Futurists imagined a world where homes didn't just contain smart devices, but they were living breathing entities themselves that anticipated your every move.. So how close are we to this vision and just how much smarter do we want our homes to become I'm Marques Brownlee and I review dope new tech., But on this show, I'm rewinding the clock to look at the tech of the past that we thought would Be our future.: This is `` Retro Tech, Smart, Homes.'', Hey, what's up MKBHD here. And the tech we're talking about today is smart home technology.. So I clearly have no idea what I'm about to unbox, but it comes from 1992..

Let's see ... what we have here.. The Smart Clapper. ``, Clap it on clap it off.''.

Oh, it's a smart outlet that just listens to clapping, which probably seemed pretty futuristic.. There's no software., There's no programming.! There's no apps.! You plug in this adapter, which is huge by the way into the wall. ``, Insert appliance plugs into clap receptacles.''. I don't actually know where the idea of whole clap to turn the light off thing came: from.

Man. This is the original.. This is the original of that idea. Well, that makes this iconic.

Doesn't it. We should probably try it. So now ... That was pretty good., Not too much delay..

So that worked with one, but the real promise is you got two at the same time, one for two claps one for three., So without any further ado.. Oh, my God., We got a lot of retro tech in here clearly.. This is for the realism., So I could plug in a normal radio, but I mean come on. Okay..

Let's say you get home and you want to really impress somebody. So everything is off and you don't even say anything: you just walk: in., ``, Hey! You want to listen to some music. Don't answer! That.'' Got you. Turn up., That's --! Is that a power move or is that just a nerdy thing to do All right? So I'm right next to it., Let's go across the room for a second., Okay! Well, this is just a small slice of the whole smart home experience.

That's evolved from these days., So I guess the question is: how much have we done since then? And how far do we still have to go? Let's just go ahead and explore the rest of that pie. Shall we Welcome to `` Retro Tech.'' Thanks for having me. First thing, I'm gon na ask you to do is check underneath your seat.. Oh my goodness.

Wow.. Oh, I remember this. The Clapper Little me is really having a moment right, now., ``, Clap on clap, off'' just became. You know something that people would say about: everything., ``, Clap on clap off.''.

This was the beginning of our lazy culture.. Does it still look like technology No, but uh? This was technology back in the day for sure. Marques. I guess the obvious first question is: was there like a beginning of smart home tech Erica Back in the'50s and the'60s? The middle class went into the suburbs and it was all about time-saving devices that were very easy and simple to use.

Announcer, The vacuum cleaner does a better cleaning job on her rugs and furniture than she could do by hand.. So now there's a washing machine that will do all the laundry and you have a dishwasher that'll take care of the dishes. Erica, The cleaning, the washing the cooking they're, the standing-up activities. And the other part of the home has to do with the sitting down.

Part of the experience. Announcer The outstanding feature of this color television is an amazing new, remote control.. The remote control was invented and all of a sudden we could kick back on the couch and with one press of a button, the television would be on.. A remote control really kind of boils down a lot of the smart home technologies..

It's very convenient to be able to sit on your couch and control. What's on your screen., You use infrared commands, you could volume up and down power and everything. And of course, once that was in the house. You never even though, about walking up to the television again.

Sam, The remote is incredible.. I have back problems and the PT person is like ``. You have to get up every 10 minutes.'' And I'm like ``. Actually I don't.'' Announcer.

You can operate all seven functions from your easy chair. Erica. Once we got our hands on these remote controls. We wanted a remote control for everything.

Woman. I have a TV, remote, a cable, remote, a VCR remote. Erica One for a VHS player, one for our Beta player, one for our stereo and we were drowning in these remote controls., Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple believed in remote control, so much that he left Apple to found a company, that's sole purpose was to develop a new remote control.. Unfortunately, it was really complicated and it ultimately failed.

Early technology suffered from this idea that, just because it was impressive or complicated-looking, then it was good. And remote controls were getting bigger and bigger and more complicated. Sam They made it seem like this is tech that we Wanted but we just want to turn the volume up.: That's it., Marques, Okay, so for a minute there remotes got pretty complicated before they got simple again.. So today I'm joined by comedian, Dulcé Sloan and we're going to test out some of these early remotes..

This is Dope or Nope. All right, so we're talking remote, controls., Remote control, So there's a TV here. Cute. It looks like a space helmet.

All right. First thing we got here it's about 20 years: old. Okay., Hmm, ``, inVoca, the world's most advanced remote control.'' Voice activated, Oh looks like Alexa didn't start the game They're, making some big claims, here. `` Using technology, so advanced that it has been used in interplanetary space.

Probes.'', That was a lie in the'90s. ``. This went to space !'', So it says first, you have to train it to your voice. Okay., All right step, one.

``, Be sure the room is quiet.'', Shut up, We're doing technology All right., Step, two. Press and release the `` train'' button, and it's gon na. Apparently say `` Say a word.'' Okay. Remote Say a word.

Hello. Press, a button., Okay. Button, accepted. Press, another button., Another button; Wake up.

Button, accepted. Press, another button., How many more buttons she want. Okay, it will listen for remote commands when the wake-up button is pressed.. Okay.

Hello. Hello Come on, that's got ta, be it., I'm disappointed not gon na lie. Hello.. Ah, Ah we did it.

Hallelujah All right. Uh worth it Nope., I'm with you. Definitely way too much. Work.

Yes. Definitely doesn't work that well. No. And definitely not that much better than pressing the button.

Yeah.. So that's a nope. That'll make you get divorced. All right.

This next remote comes to us from 1995. Ooh. I remember that year.. What were we two Yeah? I was two., I don't remember that year at all.

Cute cute cute., So this is the remote control. Locator. `` Never lose your remote again.''. Oh it's like a Tile..

It's just a literal speaker. I guess You press the button., That's it.! You locate it with the beeping.. The number-one customer, for this is someone who loses remotes all the time. And the solution is another remote..

We have a remote. Ho And look there's no back to it. Classic.. Now I believe this was in someone's home.

Okay.. So it's attached., So we should just lose the remote. Yes. Okay.

Come back. Yeah. You'd be very easy to hypnotize.. So now I have this game.

I want to record tonight, but I don't know where the remote is., If only we had something to help us locate. Our remote. I'm like living in an infomercial. I'ma press the button and see what happens.

Yay Only took me: 12, beeps., Okay, so upside you find it. Mm-hmm. Downside is. This is a little bit ...

Cumbersome, It's a little much. Mm-hmm., But it makes your house just a little bit smarter, no matter how simple it really is. It works. It's dope.

Dope, dope, dope Marques, So maybe early smart home tech. Wasn't all that impressive by today's standards, but that didn't stop us from dreaming big and most of those dreams were inspired by what we saw in science. Fiction.. A lot of our aspirations for smart home tech really come from sci-fi.

Anneke. Everything from the dystopian examples from `` 2001 A Space Odyssey'' to `` Back to the Future II ,'', where you get a kitchen that can actually make the food for you., Lorraine, Hydrate level. Four please. In the Marvel series Iron Man's JARVIS system is kind of this.

Digital butler around the home. JARVIS, You should probably prepare for your guests. Tony Stark. Thanks buddy.

In `` Star Trek ,'', you had the replicator., You could go up to it and say ... Computer. Another cup of coffee, black. Sci-fi, will often portend the future that we want to inhabit, but is not quite realistic for the technology that we actually have..

Those home technologies of sci-fi movies really did start to whet our appetite, though, and so we just started to seek more and more from these devices. George. This is a program called Power House.. It kind of turns your home into an intelligent home.

Back in the'70s. There was something called X-10 and it would actually use the existing wiring in your home., And there was a control panel that you could press buttons on.. You could turn on and off lights a fan things like that.. The issue, of course, is that you really can't do much more than that..

This was still before wifi, so it was all operating on wiring in the physical home.. When it comes to the creation of a lot of these technologies, there are always gon na be things that are just too soon. Marques. So was it easier to just turn on a device yourself, Or did these early? Automated systems actually live up to the promise of smart home technology.

Well, today, I'm joined by fellow YouTube creator, Sam Sheffer and we're gon na test out some of these systems to see for ourselves. Sam thanks for joining me on `` Retro, Tech. `` Of course.. I've heard of a lot of tech, but I've never heard of X-10..

I'm curious like what this tech from the'80s sort of looked like.. Okay Marques. This is the OG of the X-10 system.. So this is Radio Shack's plug and power, remote control center..

So these things are the modules. You plug an appliance into here then these plug into the wall, and this is how you control everything., All right., So picture this. Young Marques in early'80s., All right. I'm gon na put myself back in the'80s.

Cue, the recreation. Scott Okay. So Marques imagine you've just come home from a long day at school. You're downright exhausted..

Now you could get up and turn on the lights, the toaster popcorn machine TV and maybe even turn on your vacuum. Or you could just turn one one button. Which would you choose Now that -- that was good. That was good., That was uh powerful..

It feels impressive in a way in the tech world of the'80s, to do one thing and have several things: happen., Okay. So what's next? Okay, so this thing is called the Master Voice Butler-In-A-Box.. It is the first voice-activated smart home hub.. So if I say `` JARVIS ?'', May I help you Lights, on., Okay, master.

Also around the back. You actually have a phone jack in here., So this thing can actually connect to your landline.. So what sort of scenario would this be useful for So Marques picture? This. 1986.

You're at home. You just made yourself a delicious sandwich and you're really excited about it. You're about to take a bite, and you just realized. You need to call your mom., But your phone is so far.

Away. Enter Master Voice, Butler-In-A-Box., Hey JARVIS, Yes, master! Call Mom., Please repeat., Call Mom., Please repeat. Call Mom.. Did you call Call --, Please repeat.

Call ..., Please repeat. Call.. May I help you Call Mom., Okay, Master., Hello, Hey Mom. That wasn't great..

I think we've all had that bleeding-edge tech experience where we just know it's not ready yet, and I feel like that was that experience. Yeah. But it's kind of hard to imagine like wow. This came out in 1986.

Yeah. To an extent, I am impressed., Drawing a straight line to what we have today and what we're looking forward to in the future. This is it.. This is what we want.

An assistant.. So what we're doing now with the Internet is creating a home network the same way, X-10. Technically through all the wires in our house, was a network.. So maybe the X-10 system didn't make our homes all that much smarter., But true, smart home technology was just around the corner, thanks to a little thing called ...

The Internet. When we finally got Internet and wifi in our homes that really opened up the world of Smart home innovation., Because, instead of just having smart devices, you had smart devices that could talk to each other.. The entire home in and of itself is smart. Announcer.

Anything you can think of is now connected and it means you'll never have a cold shower again.. A lot of appliances now have smart built into them., For example, a stove that can pre-heat when you're coming home. Everything from controlling the thermostat in your home to having a security camera on your door, even though we're all just kind of using it to watch our Cats, while we're gone., I think the advent of the Internet and wifi and Internet connected everything made the possibilities kind of seem endless.. So what is the future of smart home tech? The promise of technology in the home was that it was going to make us more effective, more efficient..

Everything would be more convenient and simpler. And we finally got what we wanted ..., But there's a whole world of opportunity for us to think about the smart home as something that helps us and the Earth. George Jetson. Fortunately, my house can rise above the air pollution..

I mean the reason the Jetsons live in these sky. Pods is because of the smog layer.. So how can we use that technology to actually make the Earth better too? This is something that really really matters.. We want homes that don't contribute to an environmental footprint..

The energy and the streamlining of that is going to be one of the biggest design factors I think in the future. Marques, The evolution of smart homes has put technology. We only dreamed of right at our fingertips, but how can we make our homes not only smart but also energy efficient, To find out I'm joined by none other than environmentalist and philanthropist Bill Gates. All right Bill.

Thank you for joining me on ``, Retro, Tech.''. Glad to be here., So you wrote a book about 25-odd years ago, called `` The Road Ahead, ,'' in which you made a bunch of impressively accurate predictions about our future.. I'm curious how your vision of smart homes over the years over the last 30 years or so has changed and specifically how climate change has wrapped more and more into that picture. A lot of what we talked about in those early days was various home automation, type things.

Announcer As Robin enters. She just touches `` Welcome Home'' on the nearest wall panel, so the house is set just the way she likes it. Gates, The temperature would automatically adjust the lights. You know would turn off when they weren't needed.

And part of that was optimizing. Energy usage that you know you wouldn't have lights on or be heating or cooling spaces unless it was absolutely necessary.. You want the digital ability to control those things and to understand where you're, using electricity. That still hasn't happened.

The home control is still to be rolled out as something that's simple and cheap.. Do you think that sort of stuff is something we should be shooting towards? More Like specifically helping ourselves and the environment at the same time, Yeah for most houses, the big use of electricity is the heating and cooling. Right now that meter, which most people don't go out and look at it, doesn't do a what-if. What if I insulated the attic? What if you know I turned down from 72 degrees to 70 degrees? If you bring that into the digital realm on your PC or phone, then you can attribute the different loads to different activities and with a good UI set.

The policy so you're doing your part as somebody who cares about climate change.. How do we get to a future where it's not just a couple of smart homes, sprinkled in our neighborhoods that are high efficiency but whole smart cities, smart states that are hyper-efficient and energy? Positive, Well often, this gets pioneered when you have a new development. In America. Houses are big and that's a lot of energy., And we want to move that from natural gas, which has carbon emissions to electricity.

And there's a thing called the heat pump, that's actually fairly cheap.. In fact, amazingly, some houses can switch and buy this heat pump and replace their natural gas and actually end up saving money.. Obviously, if you have the intelligence on all the different houses controlling when you're using electricity like ``, Hey turn all the lights off, ,'' or ``, I'm going on vacation for two weeks. Do the right thing: ,''! You know it has to be smart..

We don't have that yet., So I think you will see new developments where they're trying to market themselves. As you know, city of the future type thing because we need pioneers to you know see how this can all come together.. So, as far as visions for the future, we might be closer to a smart home than anything else. We've talked about..

The real challenge is gon na, be getting people to adopt this future -- more than just a few.. I think the sweet spot is somewhere in between the Clapper and its simplicity and ease of use and convenience and the Nest Sense smart windows of the world., But then once we're there, we can move forward into this sci-fi smart home future. We've been waiting for. Either way.

That's been it. Thanks for watching. Catch, you guys on the next one. Peace.