A New Breed of Tech for the Aging

As the boomer generation moves toward retirement, companies are stepping up with innovative aids

By Douglas MacMillan

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This year, the eldest baby boomers turned 60, leading a charge of 75 million Americans who will pass the mark over the next two decades. Businesses in the market of senior-citizen products and services are already noting that this generation is healthier, more affluent, and more comfortable with technology than elderly citizens who came before them.

"Boomers are going to represent the first generation that has grown up around technology," says Russell Bodoff, executive director of the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST, agingtech.org), a national coalition established in 2003. CAST is made up of more than 400 technology companies, aging-services organizations, research universities, and government representatives. "This is also a demanding generation which prides itself on trying to remain as young as possible for as long as possible, so there's gong to be more of an expectation of technology to meet their needs."

Bodoff says the community of individuals and organizations represented by CAST are preparing for a wave of innovation over the next 10 to 20 years to meet the growing needs of this market.

MIT AgeLab, a research program started in 1999 by the school's Engineering Systems Division, develops innovations based on the anticipated convergence of baby boomer expectations and advancing technology. AgeLab has received sponsorships from such businesses as Procter & Gamble (PG), the AARP, and Philips Medical Systems.

Demanding Pets

"Boomers aren't just going to accept old age, they will look to other businesses not traditionally in the health-care field to provide for them," says AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin. "For these businesses, it's not a matter of fulfilling needs as much as wants. They want to remain engaged in society, and most are reporting that they want to continue working into old age."

Coughlin adds that technology to promote greater independence and better health for senior citizens has existed for several years—the challenge is introducing it to their lifestyle in a social and emotional context. One of the lab's simplest yet most promising projects, Pill Pets, are stuffed animals with LCD screens that remind their owners when it's time to take a pill or go to the doctor. If the senior fails to report back to the Pill Pet after performing that task, the creature will simulate sickness or death, prompting an emotional response.

Automotive technologies are also a top priority for AgeLab, because seniors equate driving with freedom and independence. The lab's prototype Aware Car is equipped with warning systems to help control speed and monitor the distance of oncoming traffic. It also helps drivers make left-hand turns, and it tailors airbag deployment and steering wheel placement to people of smaller stature, who may have osteoporosis. The AgeLab has worked with Toyota (TM) Nissan, Volkswagen, Ford (F), DaimlerChrysler (DCX), and Fiat to find the best ways to incorporate these innovations into production vehicles in the near future.

Auto-Focus Specs

An end to bifocals may be in sight for aging boomers, thanks to University of Arizona professors of optical sciences Nasser Peyghambarian and Guoqiang Li. In April, 2006, they unveiled their prototype switchable focus eyeglass lens, created with two pieces of flat glass separated by a layer of liquid crystal. When charged with 1.8 volts of electricity, a change in the orientation of the liquid crystals alters the optical path taken through the lens.