robot-ready home – Impact Lab

By Futurist Thomas Frey

Sarah Bennett stands in what will become her robotics command center—a room that doesn’t exist in any house built before 2035.

“This is where the magic happens,” she tells the builder, gesturing at the 15-foot by 20-foot space with 12-foot ceilings. “Three hydroponic towers here, harvesting robot there, packaging station along that wall.”

Her builder, Tom Harrison, marks his tablet. This is his seventh robot-ready home this year. “You’re sure about the drainage? Hydroponic systems can leak.”

“Triple-redundant,” Sarah confirms. “I’ve been running a farm out of my garage for two years. I know what can go wrong.”

By Futurist Thomas Frey

In the coming decade, robots won’t just live in our homes—they’ll work in them. And that changes everything about how we design residential space.

As houses become micro-factories, micro-farms, fulfillment hubs, drone ports, tailoring studios, and automated kitchens, the physical footprint of the home will need to grow substantially. The 2040 household won’t resemble the compact, human-only residences we’ve known for generations.

Instead, families will increasingly require homes with built-in robotics zones: rooms for articulated-arm kitchens, basements full of 3D printers, garage-based laundry stations, charging alcoves for mobile service bots, drone landing pads, indoor hydroponic grow bays, and small workshops where maintenance robots repair each other.

This shift means the future of housing is not just about shelter—it’s about workspace. If robots are to operate efficiently, homes must evolve into hybrid living-working ecosystems.

Tag: robot-ready home

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