In the UK, 75% of adults care about their home being clean – but only one in five put the time in to clean at the weekend. Perhaps it's down to laziness, being overworked, or rethinking priorities, but one million more people employ a cleaner than a decade ago.

Doing laundry is at the bottom of most people's to-do list - the epitome of the boring household chore. In China, Edaixi is an on-demand laundry company providing a swift and efficient service for time-strapped and space-poor Beijingers who want to outsource their laundry.

As you leave for work, you yell “lock” and “camera on” to keep the house secure, before telling your vacuum to clean the bedroom carpet while you're out. It's not a sci-fi film - the technology is available now. But do we really want our homes to be controlled by technology?

A new wave of technological advancements is making it easier than ever to plug into a techno-utopian automated lifestyle, as people increasingly expect to exchange minimum input for maximum output.