Smart household help

How often do you have to spend your free evening doing household chores? After a stressful day at work, the last thing most people want to do is vacuum, cook or tidy up. Now RFID can make these tasks much easier, leaving you more time for friends and family. Even youngsters appreciate the new technology: interactive toys promote creativity and make playing with dolls a particularly special experience.

The carpet maker Vorwerk is working together with chip manufacturers Infineon and InMach Intelligente Maschinen GmbH on developing the so-called Smart Floor. The innovation is equipped with numerous RFID transponders and can be fitted under nearly every type of flooring. A robot can then use the transponders to find its way around independently. The system is well suited for vacuum cleaners or transport vehicles in hospitals, for instance.

The company Vita Craft offers an RFID-based beginners package for hobby chefs in Japan. RFIQin contains a pan, 24 recipe cards and a hotplate. There is an RFID reader built into the pan handle which reads the information stored on the recipe card transponders. The pan checks 16 times a second whether the recipe steps have been followed and whether the pan temperature is correct. If needed, special software regulates the temperature, which means that even difficult recipes are now no problem to cook.

Amazing Amanda is the name of this unusual doll which reacts to the environment around it. The doll comes complete with drinks beaker and potty, both fitted with transponders. Thanks to the integrated reader, Amazing Amanda recognizes the respective objects. But that’s not all: if it’s time for bed, the little one asks for her pajamas. The doll is also sometimes ill, but with the right "medicine" she is soon healthy again.