2050 – Year the housewife is obsolete?
IT IS often said that a woman’s work is never done.
But the days of cooking, cleaning and picking up after the children may be over by 2050, says a ‘futurologist’.
Dr Ian Pearson says the traditional role of housewife could be made obsolete as robots take care of the drudgery. He also predicts that clothes will clean themselves and it will even be possible to redecorate a room in the blink of an eye.
A century after home appliances freed housewives from many back-breaking chores, androids are predicted to take the process a step further, giving us more leisure time.
‘The more advanced technology becomes, the more we can focus on being human,’ said Dr Pearson, who advises companies on advances in science and engineering.
He says by 2050 housewives or househusbands will no longer need to slave over a hot stove. Instead, robot chefs will prepare meals and then tell a microwave-like device how it should be cooked.
Robots will order the weekly shop, while artificially intelligent androids manage a team of robotic cleaners, including drones that clean kitchen work surfaces with bacteria-killing UV light.
There will be no need to nag teenagers to tidy their rooms, with 80 per cent of houses predicted to have robotic servants.
These assistants could pick up rubbish, while storage robots will keep possessions organised and arrange any repairs. Robots will even take the bins out.
Dr Pearson’s report on the home life of 2050, for the clothes and homeware store Matalan, said: ‘Miniature robot tidiers are likely, waiting until rooms are empty and then scurrying around picking up small objects.’
The use of self-cleaning fabrics will mean clothes will need washing less often, and Dr Pearson predicts that driverless ‘pods’ will do the school run.
Freed from that time-consuming task, parents will be able to get on with their work, which they will probably do from home.
‘People won’t need to work as much – we’ll have a nicer lifestyle with more time for relaxation,’ said the futurologist.
There will be less DIY to worry about as people will be able to redecorate rooms in the blink of an eye thanks to ‘active’ contact lenses that alter a room’s decor to suit a wearer’s taste by beaming images on to their eyes.
Fabrics with tiny lights that change colour will alter the appearance of a room, the report predicts, and sofas will wrap round people’s bodies for comfort.
Dr Pearson has also considered how families will fill up all this time saved from chores. They might visit a beach without leaving their sofa by donning a virtual reality headset that displays the scenery while also linking to a user’s nervous system so they even feel the sand between their toes.
And instead of going out for coffee, people could be beamed into the home in the form of life-size 3D holograms, making socialising with far-flung friends and family easier.
Dr Pearson worked as an engineer before becoming BT’s full-time futurologist from 1991 to 2007. He now runs his own futures institute named Futurizon, and predicts how we will live in years to come by studying the latest scientific breakthroughs.