Youth is something everyone takes for granted until it’s gone. When you’re young, your energy is high, your flexibility is at its best, and your visual and motor skills are in their prime. But as you age, natural changes occur that can make normal activities much more difficult, and this is hard for people to imagine without experiencing it themselves.

If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to be in your mid-70s, a new project called AGNES (Age Gain Now Empathy System), developed by the MIT AgeLab, gives you that opportunity. AGNES is a suit that helps you understand the physical challenges associated with aging. It provides a comprehensive experience that should help young people undertand the difficulties that occur as you grow older.

Besides helping others understand what life is like as you age, the suit has massive potential for helping designers create products that are usable by all demographics. This suit makes it possible to test products for glaring usability issues, and in doing so, can help improve the lives of every member of the population. The AGNES suit alters the way 9 key parts of your body function:




Neck- A neck brace reduces cervical spine rotation and extension, simulating increased stiffness and causing the turning of one’s head to be a full torso movement.





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