The people of Hunenberg, in the peaceful Swiss canton of Zug, are a sceptical lot. They know little of what is happening inside a remarkable semi-detached house in the garden suburb of Huobhalde - except that "the future" is being investigated there.

There was plenty of uncertainty for Ursi Steiner in the beginning, too. But then the realisation began to dawn that there are few things more exciting than the future. And so the former primary school teacher resigned from her job. Today she is paid just to live - or, more precisely, to analyse her life.

It is afull-time job. Together with her husband Daniel and their children Grace and Carlo, she lives in one of the most modern houses in Europe. And the task of these well-paid guinea-pigs? To find out whether modern technology can benefit everyday life, and how.

Take, for example, the coffee machine. At six o'clock in the morning it springs into life because it has been programmed to do so as if guided by an unseen hand. When the Steiners enter their kitchen a little later on, everything there is not only cosy and warm, but the coffee is ready and steaming away in the pot. The bread rolls are freshly-baked and ready in the oven.

Or take the bath. The desired temperature, water quantity, and even the individual's favourite combination of bath essences can all be set automatically.

The star of the show is the thinking fridge. Small transmitters on the food packaging enable it to recognise when, for example, milk and yoghurt have passed their sell-by dates. Depending on the programming it either emits a warning signal or orders new supplies automatically online from the supermarket.

It is a completely new shopping experience. Sausages, cheese, coffee - Mrs Steiner can order these and more than 4,000 household items comfortably and easily via a multi-application terminal.

"It means I save myself a whole lot of time and stress," she says. And what if the delivery of fresh groceries arrives when no one is home? The delivery man simply puts the goods in a special, well-cooled locking compartment in the outside wall, which he can open with a chip card.

This is all possible due to a total of eight different "bus" or communication systems in the so-called FutureLife House, all networked together and operated from a console. Sensors, switches and controls communicate with each other via a central data transfer wiring system.

The heart of the house is a computer providing access to the internet, which means that all appliances can be operated by mobile phone or online. This is wonderfully convenient if you want to preheat the oven, switch on the air conditioning or operate the tumble drier by remote control while you are out.

According to Hans-Dieter Cleven, forward thinker and spiritual father of the house, simulating the future is what makes the present worth living. "We want to provoke thought, release visions, break down the fear of new technology and awaken a belief in the future", he says.

All these gadgets help to win back time for the more essential things in life, adds Mr Steiner. For example, he does not have to spend hours in the summer mowing the lawn as this is now performed by a solar-powered robot mower.

The development of the networked, partially automated and remote-controlled household is among the most important likely areas of innovation in the next few years. Around a third of Switzerland's inhabitants have a positive attitude towards such technology, according to a recent survey by the Berlin Institute for Social Research.

What those questioned looked forward to most was an increase in comfort, improved safety and a reduction in energy costs. The experts say that these can be reduced by up to 25 per cent by installing a heating system with integrated remote technology, at a cost of around E2,500.

Datamonitor, the market analysts, predicted recently that by 2005, around 20m households in Europe should benefit from networked technology. To date the technology has not yet made it to the mass market, mainly because of a lack of standards and integration.

Despite the vision of easier day-to-day living, many homeowners are nevertheless worried by a subliminal fear of venturing into the world of networked technology.

The FutureLife house is not alone - scientists are working on similar projects in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.

The German InHaus project, at Duisburg, is supported by a group of blue-chip companies under the management of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Systems, and is regarded as a model of its kind in Germany. Partners include companies such as Miele, Sony, T-Nova Deutsche Telekom and Volkswagen - which has developed a multimedia car, from which all the functions in the house can be controlled.

However, Mr Cleven considers most of these projects to be merely well-equipped "show-homes". In contrast to the house in Hunenberg, these digital domiciles are rarely inhabited, which means they are tested under laboratory conditions, rather than in practice.

Things are different in Hennigsdorf, a sleepy little place on the edge of Berlin. For the first time in Germany, in the Cohnschen district, a workers' housing project built in the 1950s, bus technology is being installed in a block of flats. With the support of the Brandenburg regional government, all 222 flats are being connected up to an interactive broadband cable network.

This is new territory for the local residential development company, although Holger Schaffranke, its managing director, believes he is on the right track: "The ability to offer multiple services, and the savings in energy costs may well make tenants far more interested in this kind of accommodation," he says. However, residential developers must be sure that they are basing these developments on professional know-how in the areas of multi-media, telecommunications and e-commerce.

But there are still some problems, as demonstrated by the example of Silke and Andreas Kopitz. They live in one of four ground-floor flats, known as the Hennigsdorf Solar House. At the side of their front door is a small monitor, through which all the technology is managed.

This box of tricks from Siemens, costing around E2000, is the central operating and information panel. "It has taken us quite a while to familiarise ourselves with the controls and find the best settings", says Mr Kopitz.

Via the box, the heating can be controlled centrally or on a room-by-room basis, windows opened or closed and the alarm system with intercom and video camera activated. However, according to Mr Kopitz, the system has a major weakness: "Anyone who knows where we live can march through the forecourt in front of the flats straight to our door."

An accompanying interview with researchers from the Berlin Institute for Social Research - Why the fundamental questions cannot be ignored