AgeLab / Projects / Wellness and Self-Empowered Health

[•] Projects / Wellness and Self-Empowered Health

A selection of our current work includes:

Pill Pets

Digital Danskins

Smart Personal Advisor

Home Health Station: Intelligent Cardiopulmonary Decision System

AgeLab studies how older adults acquire and use information.

Aging was once synonymous with poor health. Today’s older adult generally lives longer and lives better. AgeLab’s research in wellness and self-empowered health leverages engineers, behavioral scientists, exercise physiologists and doctors to integrate health awareness, new technologies and novel approaches to behavior modification. We aggressively seek innovations that move routine health and wellness from the hospital and doctor’s office to the home, workplace, retail setting and all places that impact people’s decision making and behavior everyday. We strive to empower individuals and their caregivers with the knowledge and skills necessary to make better health decisions as they age and the tools to best manage chronic disease. A brief selection of the AgeLab's work includes:

Pill Pets: Toys with a purpose

PILL PETS

Maintaining the proper regimen of diet and medications are a challenge for most people. Older adults take more pills than other age groups. AgeLab researchers, in partnership with colleagues in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and the Rhode Island School of Design, have developed an Electronic Pill Pet that uses play and emotion to remind older adults to take their medications. Researchers, with the support of EDS, are examining the role of toys, pets and play in older adult health.

MIT Man Vehicle Laboratory

DIGITAL DANSKINS

NASA’s trip to Mars faces many challenges. Among them is how to keep the astronauts fit, healthy and strong. Leveraging research done by NASA, MIT’s Man Vehicle Laboratory (MVL) and the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence’s Leg Lab, the AgeLab has been seeking ways to bring innovations from Mars to Mom’s kitchen. Work conducted in partnership with EDS seeks to develop a “digital danskin” for older adults on earth that may integrate bio-sensors to monitor health conditions like osteoporosis and other chronic diseases that may affect functioning.

MIT AgeLab's Smart Personal Advisor

SMART PERSONAL ADVISOR

Technology-enabled behavior that leverages radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless technology in the home, workplace, store and leisure environments offer significant promise in helping older adults and caregivers to make the right decisions at the right time. AgeLab has developed a Smart Personal Advisor to transform food and consumer health products shopping into an informed activity. Rather than using current technologies that simply inform price and purchasing selection in the store, AgeLab’s Smart Personal Advisor, developed in collaboration with Proctor & Gamble, uses the consumer’s personal diet information to provide guidance at the point of decision--in the aisle rather than in the home.

HOME HEALTH STATION: INTELLIGENT CARDIOPULMONARY DECISION SYSTEM

AgeLab researchers are conducting research on the application of telemedicine technologies to manage chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure (CHF), diabetes and obesity. AgeLab researchers hope to make a “check-up-a-day” not only possible, but a reality for everyone. The prevention demands of today’s older population and aging boomers will drive health delivery from the clinic to the home. Working with Philips, AgeLab researchers, MIT’s Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering are developing a system to provide early detection and warning for CHF patients and their families, using a home set of simple, non-evasive commercial medical instruments.