Visitors entering MIT's AgeLab encounter a curious host: a sort of mannequin wearing a shiny suit and a pair of red glasses. At first he makes a strange impression, but the effect comes when thinking about what lies beneath the suit: a series of weights and elastic cords, bulky gloves and other devices. Together, they constitute AGNES, acronym for Age Gain Now Empathy System. What is AGNES for? Well, to get older. At least as long as you wear it.
Seniors prêt-à-porter
AGNES is a wearable set of systems designed to simulate what it feels like to live as an 80-year-old with chronic health conditions.
The suit is able to make the wearer experience loss of muscle mass, reduction of joint mobility and flexibility, loss of balance and tactile sensitivity. The red glasses simulate vision problems such as loss of diopters and diabetic retinopathy.
What is it for?
Instantly making you elderly, the AGNES suit provokes surprising, sometimes disheartening, reactions. But it is not just an impactful experience that comparesaging: The suit can help designers, engineers, managers and care professionals better understand the physical and social world, to create better products and services for the elderly.
“AGNES is the result of a collaborative and progressive effort by MIT researchers and students,” he explains Joe Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab. “He was born with a neck brace and elastic bands to better understand the difficulties older people face getting in and out of cars. Today, it is used to give researchers and students insight into the fatigue, frustration and attrition that older adults experience.”
Thanks to AGNES, public transport systems, retail environments, medical devices and even product packaging are designed.
A way, after all, to see the future in advance and try to improve it.
