So has been the cliché of the perfect home, since the dawn of suburbia. But the days of simple comforts are quickly becoming obsolete. Families have rapidly become tired of robotic appliances, gas fireplaces are old news, and the dreams of owning a flat panel TV have been replaced by dreams of 3D. Times they are a-changing. And so is the landscape of modern home technology. Here are five exciting technologies that might be the future of must-have home goods.

A new place for fire

Don’t have a fireplace? Don’t have a chimney? You don’t have a problem. The Bio-Blaze Black Qube Liquid Fuel Fireplace is a free-standing floor model which can be located anywhere in any room — indoors or out — and can be viewed from front as well as the back. The Bloc 2.5 liter ethanol burner creates the perfect flames to warm and enhance any space. Because this fireplace burns clean bio-ethanol, it does not require a flue and releases mainly H2O and very little CO2. There is no smoke or smell while the fuel burns, and it can be installed in a ventilated room (living room, sitting room, dining room, veranda).

Lean, mean laser-cleaning machine

It seems like only yesterday our minds were blown by the Roomba, a vacuum-cleaning robot that wandered around our houses without instruction or complaint, tirelessly picking up potato chip crumbs, pet hair and any other human leavings. But Roomba cleans at random, vacuuming chaotically until it bumps into an obstacle. The Neato XV-11 All Floor Robotic Vacuum System came up with a better way. Neato’s laser-based Room Positioning System gives the robot vacuum a full 360-degree view of a room so it can create a map of the room, detecting walls, doorways, furniture and other obstacles. Using its map, the Neato XV-11 avoids most obstacles that other robots can only detect by impact. Just press the start button and your Neato determines the best cleaning path to clean the floors using its unique, methodical straight-line pattern.

Gray skies are gonna clear up

Even rainy skies are blue with the Sky Factory Luminous SkyCeilings. — virtual skylights with photographic illusions of real sky views that trigger beneficial “relaxation responses” for the mind and body. They are modular and can be designed to any rectangular shape, or arrangement of shapes, defined by the suspended ceiling grid. Luminous SkyCeilings are scalable – from a single 2-by-2 square to as large as you want – easy to install, and work with existing grid systems.

Lighting efficiency – You must have a plan

When you have a panel full of light switches, it can be challenging to remember which is which. The Floor Plan Light Switch offers an easy solution. The switches are modified according to the floor plan of the room and operate accordingly. So, at a single glance, you know which switch controls what.

Ever-changing wall

This is a free–standing 20-by-20 wall with a prism system that will allow for millions of color and text options. The designer notes it’ll be in production soon, and hopes it will arrive in the U.S. as a rental in the coming years. This is a very fun and practical concept that would be a welcome addition to any house (See below for the various designs).

Davison products are similar to those listed above. We might not have television ceilings or laser vacuum cleaners (yet), but our products are created to help our clients and customers lead better lives through finding better ways to accomplish tasks.

The post Hands-free, Automated, Vacuum-cleaning Robots are so Passé appeared first on Davison.