Senior Momentum

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Ri-Man is one of a new generation of humanoid robotic helpers. The robot is equipped with tactile sensors that measure position and magnitude of contact force.

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In 2004, USA Today reported on a robot produced by the California company InTouch Health that really does have glowing eyes—in the form of a video screen "head" mounted on a mobile base that televises a doctor's diagnosis. This RP-7 "rounding robot" links off-site specialists with staff doctors at 21 Michigan hospitals around the clock. A study by Johns Hopkins University found that 50 percent of patients would prefer a remote examination by their own physician via robo-doc technology than an encounter with a doctor they don't know.

Ethnographic research confirms that a senior's relationship to products changes with age. Loneliness intensifies, so anything that provides social and emotional support may become important if human contact is in short supply. For families separated by distance, Carnegie Mellon University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute is refining a product called the Hug, a soft anthropomorphic robotic pillow that relays intimate communication over conventional phone lines. If Granny's not home, a child can leave a "message" on her Hug expressed by cues such as gentle lights, sounds, and vibrations that accompany a voice recording.

But where Granny and Grandpa—not to mention aging singles—will live is a bigger problem facing society than the technologies they will use. As useful as they already are in hospitals, robots and smart technologies may soon have an even greater impact on retirees simply by enabling them to remain at home. In the December 2006 issue of Scientific American, Bill Gates forecast that personal robots will soon revolutionize industry and rock the cultural status quo just as PCs did in the 1970s. His title, "A Robot in Every Home," is not just an echo of Herbert Hoover's 1928 campaign promise of "a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage" but also a potentially accurate prediction. Who knew that Americans born in the mid-20th century, a sector closely identified with peripatetic lifestyles and address changes, would inspire a movement called "aging in place"?

One of the movement's champions is Beacon Hill Village, a nonprofit agency in Boston founded by a group of neighbors in 2001. BHV has taken the concept a step further by using the movement's newest name, "aging in community." Membership in the organization, which now encompasses several neighborhoods, ensures seniors access to services from carpentry to car rides as well as a way to remain socially connected. BHV director Judy Willett claims that most people, facing the prospect of nursing homes or assisted living facilities, opt to stay at home if they can. Since technological innovations, such as sensing devices for remote medical testing or advanced GPS systems, can supplement existing home care services, BHV is working with researchers and product developers, particularly MIT's AgeLab.

In collaboration with other MIT divisions and outside designers, AgeLab has developed a spectrum of products and services intended to help seniors perform specific tasks better, such as continuing to drive safely, managing prescriptions, or making shopping decisions. Working with the Rhode Island School of Design, AgeLab developed Pill Pet, a toy-like device for older adults that emits different prompts as reminders to take the meds or go to a doctor's appointment. Another product designed with Proctor & Gamble, Smart Personal Advisor, attaches onto a shopping cart and can be programmed with, for instance, personal diet data to recommend healthy selections.

AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin cautions designers against underestimating senior preferences, intimating that it's ageist to assume this group will be conservative and low-tech. Citing the popularity of Swatch watches and Mini Cooper cars with older customers, he claims that consumers in their sixties are now as style-conscious as those in their twenties. As aging boomers buy products for themselves or their elderly parents, manufacturers and marketers must change the strategy they've followed for more than 60 years. "We're living in a time when the population we've always catered to as being perpetually youthful is now no longer young, but youthful in attitude. And that is truly disruptive to the business model," Coughlin says.

BHV's Judy Willett points out that boomers have always loved gadgets, so it's likely they'll use products that make life easier to the bitter end. Right now, technology plays only a small role at BHV—mainly Lifeline pendants for summoning help—but Willett anticipates more experimentation when boomers enter the community in the future. Nonetheless, she emphasizes that technology, no matter how cool, will never replace human contact. "As their needs change, what most people want is people. They want relationships that help counter isolation and depression and keep them engaged in life." Assuming that's true, our society may never accept androids in lieu of human companionship, but it doesn't mean robots can't learn to play a mean game of bridge.

Provided by I.D. Magazine—The International Design Magazine