The next level of Alexa: Meet the new voice assistant who will change how people live at home

One day we’ll laugh, bemusedly, about how we actually used to do things with our hands, in the same way that we chortle now about how we used to get up to change the channels on the TV.

Thanks to a collaboration between Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa and the home-automation skills of a company called Crestron, it’s already possible to cut time-wasting tasks.

Imagine walking into a room and with a “good morning, Alexa” watch a pre-programmed ballet of functions take place: the perfectly dimmed lights flick on, the blinds glide open (using Crestron’s silent motors), your playlist sings, the TV turns on, muted, to show the headlines and a voice whispers the weather forecast.

While none of these tasks is taxing on its own, they all take time and, as Crestron’s residential markets director Trevor Rooney is keen to point out, all those saved seconds add up.

It might all sound crazy until you visit a home using the technology. Stroll into the dining room and say, “let’s have a dinner party” and the mood magic happens for you (the bits that aren’t preparing the food), and when guests arrive at the gate you can let them in without getting up.

“In the past, the market for this kind of thing was mostly gadget-lovers, but now the audience is everyone. Anyone who owns a phone knows that automation exists,” says Rooney.

The Apples and Googles of the world are predicting that voice-activation will be the next big thing, in the way touch was when the iPhone launched. Rooney believes everyone wants to use voice, they’re just not sure what they want it for.

Crestron’s systems provide a functional demonstration, and remove those switches and buttons you won’t need on your walls any more.

• Related: The robot that ‘refreshes’ your clothes
• Related: The fridge of the future has landed
• Related: What the smart homes of 2020 will have

As Alexa moves into the operating systems of cars, you’ll even be able to prepare your house with an “open sesame”, and unlock the front door, before you struggle in with your shopping.

Rooney promises there’s a lot more coming, but for now you can start living a more leisured life with a basic Crestron system installed from “a couple of thousand dollars”.

You might like…

Photo: Supplied

In a house as modern as 60 Portland Street in Dover Heights, you’d expect the blinds to respectfully part for you in the morning.

For now, you’ll have to go to the trouble of saying a few words, but surely in the future a house like this will know what you need even before you do.

D’Leanne Lewis of Laing+Simmons Double Bay has the listing, which is priced between $6.2 million and 6.3 million.