All types of rooms — living rooms, retail floors, hospital bays — will come embedded with sensors, say Chad Lundberg and Jud Holliday. These sensors will pick up information on usage patterns at different times of day, in different noise environments, and in different temperatures.
Companies like Vivint already produce security systems that work in a similar way. Vivint's Smart Home technology bundles security cameras with locks and thermostats, allowing it to both keep people safe and know when to save energy.
"Spaces will no longer simply house and support your activities," Lundberg and Holliday write. "They will participate."