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Knowledge Hub

4 futuristic tech trends that will change home insurance

5 min read

4 futuristic tech trends that will change home insurance

Technology and Science October 05, 2016

We live in a world of exponential growth in technology; for the first time in human history, the world we are born into might look entirely different to the world in which we grow old. We now have smart fridges that order our milk when we’re running low, so just imagine what the homes of the future are going to look like.

It can be hard to predict exactly what this will be like, but we do have some clues based on current technology. Let’s take a look at some of the things that you’ll likely need home contents insurance for – things that used to only exist in Sci-Fi novels.

Digital wallpaper

Imagine you’re stuck working from home over the weekend. You dream of being out in the bush or basking on the beach, but instead, you’re surrounded by bare walls. Well, digital wallpaper won’t get you out of your home office, but it will make you feel like you are. Soon you’ll be able to get your work done surrounded by a vista of the Grand Canyon or the rushing water of Victoria Falls. In 2015, Google was granted a patent on a projection technology that will turn your walls into panoramic landscapes of just about anything you’d want, and you’ll be able to change and control these scenes through your smartphone.

Domestic robots

Many homeowners already have those round vacuum cleaning robots tidying up, but domestic robots have more potential than just being able to vacuum. Feel like pizza for dinner? There’s a German robot called PR₂ that has learned how to cook pizza and make pancakes by watching YouTube videos, reading online how-to articles, and through kinaesthetic learning with people. There will also be robotic child-minders and bots that will take care of the frail and elderly.

Home energy sources

Most people receive their energy from the national grid, but this is becoming increasingly expensive and unsustainable not only in South Africa, but all over the world. There are loads of alternatives that are coming to homes and in the future, these will likely be included standard in your building insurance. Some of these are:

Small wind turbines: These are ideal for areas that have a sizeable wind resource (hello, Cape Town), and they’ll sit nicely out of the way on your home’s roof.
Geothermal energy: This is the energy generated by the internal heat of the earth. The beauty of this system is that the power source never varies, making it very efficient.
Transparent solar: Soon, the windows in your home will be able to harness the sun’s energy and power things like the air con and lights in your house.

At-home surgery

One day, you could have a machine that scans you from head to toe every morning before you leave the house and, if there’s a problem with your health, routine operations could be performed by bots then and there.

Do you think that all of this future tech is a little scary, or are you anxiously waiting for the day when you won’t ever have to do a household chore again? Would you trust a bot to perform surgery on you entirely on its own?

Whatever the future holds, Dialdirect will be there, insuring your home and its contents.