Researchers at MIT have developed a robot that can slide a vest onto a human arm, “which is an early but important step in creating a robot that could completely dress an aging or disabled person,” writes Mark Wilson for Fast Company. “In this work, we focus on a planning technique,” explains PhD candidate Shen Li. “If I dress a kid or adult, they might have different reactions. So you have to predict what they’ll do.”
In an article for The Boston Globe, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, explores how to develop transportation strategies for elders. “When considering the possibilities for elder transportation, it’s important to keep in mind that the needs of seniors are diverse,” writes Coughlin. “One senior might find one innovation helpful but not another. The answer to such a variety of needs may be to think more broadly about what constitutes travel.”
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, emphasizes the importance of including climate change as part of retirement planning. “Preparing for possible conditions and costs of climate change should now be part of our retirement plan,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explores the question of whether microchip tracking technology could potentially become widely accepted. “Such technology forces us to prioritize the value we assign to personal independence and freedom versus the promise of safety and wellbeing,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the Age Lab, explores some of the surprises that Millennials, Gen X’ers, and younger Boomers have learned living at home for an extended period during the Covid-19 pandemic. "While Covid quarantine is certainly not entirely like retirement, there are more than a few similarities,” writes Coughlin. “The friction and complexities it has added to daily life are enough for many to question brochure-based thinking of what retirement might be.”
Wall Street Journal reporter John Anderson spotlights a new PBS special “Fast Forward: Look Into Your Future,” which explores the many facets of aging and was developed with input from researchers at the MIT AgeLab.
In an article for The Boston Globe, AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin spotlights how the greater Boston area and New England in general have the “potential to become the Longevity Hub: a world-leading driver of innovation for aging populations.”
Writing for The Boston Globe, AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin and Research Associate Luke Yoquinto explore how Greater Boston could serve as an innovation hub for aging populations. “By making groundbreaking creativity and inventiveness for older adults both seen and felt, Greater Boston and New England will be able to offer the world a new vision of old age,” they write.
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the development of new technologies that enable older adults to connect with their communities. “The pandemic has served as a propellant accelerating the adoption of devices and related services perhaps a decade faster than might have otherwise occurred.
Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for Forbes about the importance of including story-based planning when anticipating retirement. “Crafting a retirement story explains why we do certain things, helps us share and discuss with others what is important to us and why, and enables us to anticipate possible futures – both desired and undesired,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Forbes, AgeLab director Joseph Coughlin examines the impact of the increasing number of adult children who are living with their parents. “This evolving trend is not just about the changing definition of young adulthood, it is also about the changing definition of life stages across the life course, including retirement,” writes Coughlin.
A study from the MIT AgeLab shows that people who take out student loans for their children or grandchildren typically decrease the amount they save for their own retirement. “[I]f one’s loan obligations extend all the way into retirement age, then the time to begin saving may never arrive,” writes AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin for Forbes.
New research co-authored by MIT economists highlights the effects of location on the life expectancy of people over age 65, writes Christopher Ingraham for The Washington Post. According to the researchers, “moving from a place in the bottom 10 percent to one in the top 10 percent would extend the average person’s life by a little more than a year.”
AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin writes for Forbes about the similarities and differences between retirement and summer vacation for kids. “Retirement positively dwarfs summer vacation in the amount of time involved—yet many peoples’ plans for retirement look a lot like plans for a summer vacation,” writes Coughlin.
Writing for Forbes, Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab, explores how services such as meal kits and delivery apps appeal to younger and older consumers. “Innovations developed to respond to the demands of what, on the surface, appears to be distinctly younger lifestyles may, in fact, be both a market opportunity for business and an emerging critical resource to support older consumers,” writes Coughlin.