Inside Story: Rise of the machines

A bewildering array of exciting new technologies with huge potential to shape our daily lives is already on our doorstep, writes Alex Meehan.

Plug yourself in: pills to detect disease and pillows to assess your sleep are just some of the new smart technologies. Picture: Getty

Imagine a future where your shoes could tell you about your health, a smartwatch could keep track of your heart rate, and a smartcup and plate could tell you exactly what you’re eating, right down to the last calorie and gram of fat.

A future where, when you felt ill, you could swallow a pill that could talk to your smartphone and detect diseases by analysing your bloodstream, and when you went to ...