Get smart

We have the technology, we have the capability. The question is, do we want it? Siemens recently flew journalists from all around Europe to Milan - a destination chosen for its sexiness and stylishness - to show us how technology could run our homes.

We were taken to an old silk factory now used for fashion shoots which houses the Smart Home, complete with 21st century technology and modern furniture.

Our notes told us that we would be shown around the Smart Home by an Australian nanny (an actress) called Sara. Sara got lucky when she was employed as a nanny by the Donatello family, as they all go out to work and school and leave her at home to control her environment with technical gadgets designed by engineer dad Maurizio Donatello.

She starts our tour of the Smart Home by giving the plants a drink with a watering can complete with a gadget that tells her how much water the plants need. Sara also carries with her a Gigaset and Ch@tset which enable her to access the Internet from anywhere and talk to her friends - vital when you are hard at work.

She then jumps on an exercise bike and chooses scenery on a large screen - after all, why cycle through real fields when you can watch them on film?

Afterwards she puts on her Sensor Vest which mimics her movements on the big screen so that she can see if she has the correct posture. The Sensor Vest can also give audio feedback and tell you whether you're heading for muscle injury by moving badly.

Sara's not the only one working in the home, though: she is aided by her Voice Butler, which recognises certain voices and obeys commands in six different languages. Get one of these and you can throw away the remote control and just talk to the TV, stereo, video recorder, lighting, heating and alarm system. So when Pokemon gets too much for you and you scream at the kids "turn it down", as usual, they will not obey - but Voice Butler will happily oblige.

But how much do these machines understand? Will the lighting become confused if a 70s-style Lothario tells his latest flame to "turn me on, baby"? If you're telling a friend that yesterday you told the kids to turn the telly down, how will the TV know that you don't mean it this time?

Sara also shows us how she can control parts of the home and garden she's not actually in. When her exasperating employers leave the front gate open as usual, she sees what's happened on a screen within the home and shuts it while turning on the garden sprinkler at the same time. Those Donatellos really are slave drivers.

Next, Sara makes coffee by pressing a button that recognises her fingerprint and makes the coffee exactly the way she likes it. This technology is known as biometrics and will help us become a real "me" generation, as you can get all sorts of gadgets - such as a computer mouse - to work only when they recognise your fingerprint. The coffee machine can refuse to make caffeinated coffee for children, while giving you just as much milk and sugar as you like.

In the kitchen there is no need for Sara to do such tiresome tasks as selecting a dishwashing programme, as the machine recognises how dirty the crockery is. If any of the kitchen appliances are faulty, Sara doesn't have to use her phone and Internet technology to contact repair people - the machines can analyse their own problems and notify customer services via the Internet.

Finally Sara leads us into the sittingroom, which recognises her presence, turns on her favourite programme (featuring kangaroos to remind her of home), dims the lights and turns up the temperature while she relaxes on a thoroughly stylish Edra sofa.

After all, the poor woman really has had a hard day.

Finally the children arrive home from school, and as there will never be a machine capable of controlling children, Sara greets them. "The children love me," she tells us, "and I love my technology."

Along with the Siemens technology, the Smart Home was also fitted out with stylish furniture by Italian architects and designers. This includes the ubiquitous Jacobsen chairs - designed in the middle of the last century. (Italian architect Michele De Lucchi correctly informs me that they are truly timeless.)

Much of the furniture was ergonomically designed. In fitting the human form so well, this furniture is very difficult to get out of once you've sunk into it - but there's no need to emerge from your seat with all of these gadgets doing everything for you.

The technology is truly amazing, but it will take time to sort out which bits we will actually want to use.

My kids are amazed when I tell them that when I was a child (and I'm not that old) there was no colour television, videos, CDs, remote controls, computers, emails and answering machines were so new that people were terrified of leaving messages on them. So who can tell what will become commonplace in their lifetime?

Siemens has shown us the future and while I'll approach it cautiously, I know there's a whole e-class of people waiting to grasp the technowizardry that Sara and Maurizio Donatello are so fond of.