IKEA joins the IoT revolution

Internet of Things is now a reality, and lots of companies have to face it. Companies from many different fields (as we have seen: housing, decor, gardening…) have to improve their offers in order to survive in the new technological era. That’s why the famous Swedish company IKEA has decided to adapt things into the IoT’s world and also create new connected things to make our lives easier.

IKEA’s idea is to make a more sustainable life at home, so that is the reason why in the next decade the brand is going to create and develop new connected things, such as the whole kitchen. In a collaboration with IDEO, a global design company, and design students from Lund University (Sweden) and Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherland), IKEA has created the named Concept Kitchen, which was shown at the Milan Design Week.

A research made by the swedish brand concluded that by 2025 the world:

• Will have more urban living.
• Houses will get smaller.
• Water and energy will feel more precious.
• People working from home will not be strange.
• Shopping will mean “home delivery”.

Looking at this conclusions, it is not strange that an important company such as IKEA wants to reverse the trend and move forward to the new era that belongs to the IoT. So, what is the Concept Kitchen about? Following the idea of ease, IKEA has introduced new comfortable and useful ideas to make our kitchen-life much better.

Firstly, one of IKEA’s idea is a table that, even if it is not going to cook your food, it will give you recipe suggestions. The table will also guide you through the preparation process and a drone is going to tell you if there’s any missing ingredient.

A second idea is to replace the fridge. How? The IKEA’s new option is a storing technology that contains hidden sensors and uses an induction cooling. The see-through shelves will be able to be controlled using our smartphones, so it will keep our food at the right temperature. And this will also allow you to not overbuy!

The new Concept Kitchen will also respect the “energy-saving” idea. We can not understand an IoT world without talking about the save of energy and money. So IKEA is not less. Worried about the pollution and waste that people generate, the company proposes a process in which organic waste from the sink is separated from the wastewater, so it is compressed and dried to become an odorless mass. At the same time, wastewater is used to feed indoor plants. Recycling is also important, so cans, bottles and containers are crushed and scanned for contamination, so depending on how wasteful you are, you will receive an energy credit or debit.

Which is the relation between IKEA and thethings.iO? The things designed and created by IKEA can be easily connected to the Internet thanks to thethings.iO. Actually, a couple years ago, we connected an IKEA sofa, which allowed Barcelona’ citizens to feel the beats of the Sónar, the Electronic and Experimental Music Festival. To read the post about it, click here.

Make sure you follow us on Twitter!