Senseless Sensors?

Has tech’s sensor obsession gone too far?

18:17 05 January 2017

Nowadays, it seems that the tech industry creates sensors for just about anything – a heart rate monitoring bed, levitating home speakers, app that time contractions just before a woman goes into labour, and a shower that lights up to let you know if you’re using too much water.

 

The Consumer Electronics Show showcases sensors that offer solutions to problems you never knew you had. One of the new technology that were showcased include a smart wine dispenser that pours the perfect glass of wine at the perfect temperature to match the food type you eat – a technology that makes the let's-just-grab-that-bottle-standing-next-to-the-cooker approach to shame.

 

There was also a whole area dedicated to smart homes – from doorbells to light bulbs, security devices to voice-activated digital assistants.

 

Steve Koenig, senior director of market research at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), which organises the event said that “connectivity will be the major focus of CES 2017.”

 

"Our research has shown that once consumers adopt one of these [smart home] products - like a connected thermostat or a smart lock - they are very much more likely to adopt the second, third or even fourth product, because they see the convenience."

 

Some experts, on the other hand, think that our obsession to such technology might have gone too far.

 

"Just because you can monitor an activity doesn't mean you should," tech analyst Caroline Milanesi says.

 

"A lot of times we see products that are trying to solve a problem that just isn't there."