The Gadgets That Promise to Redesign (and Reimagine) Old Age

The booming market for aging tech includes robot feeders, airbag belts and toilets that overshare. Here’s what’s genius, overhyped or just plain weird

Eric Spitznagel,

AARP

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Published November 03, 2025

a graphic illustration shows a woman sitting in chair wearing virtual reality glasses. There are doves around her, digitized flowers, a robotic spoon and a surrounding blue grid

From companionship VR to fall-detection lamps to robotic feeding arms, a new generation of gadgets promises to make growing older easier and more autonomous.

Glenn Harvey

Getting older has always been a balancing act, only now the world’s engineers want to spot you.

Every month seems to bring a new gizmo, robot or hardware promising to soothe, steady, track, nudge, motivate, caption, coach and occasionally judge you. Some of it looks like actual progress. Some of it looks like a late-night infomercial that escaped into the daylight. All of it claims to make aging “easier.”

But the appetite is there. An online AARP survey done in 2024 of about 3,600 adults 50 and over found that about two-thirds (66 percent) said technology enriches their lives by making daily life and aging easier. Older adults are using more tech at home and on the go; more than 6 in 10 already have at least one smart device handling security, utilities, appliances or lighting. “Inventors like to think that an invention will succeed because of its own cleverness or utility,” says Laurie Orlov, a tech industry veteran and founder of Aging and Health Technology Watch, a market research and trend website. “But most useful tech for older adults is part of a broader requirement.” A clever gadget isn’t enough; it has to actually deliver on independence, connection and safety without drowning people in setup codes and subscription tiers.

We took a closer look at the most-hyped ideas, sorting the genuinely helpful from the gloriously kooky, and asked the researchers and clinicians who study this stuff a simple question: Is it a breakthrough or just another blinking light on the nightstand?

The humanoid nurse that can check your vitals

Meet Grace, a friendly (robotic) face in scrubs from Hong Kong–based Hanson Robotics and its health care spin-off Awakening Health, introduced in 2020. She can greet you by name, chat in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, and quietly check basics with built-in sensors, including a chest-mounted thermal camera that reads temperature and estimates pulse. She’s also there for companionship, the kind of small talk that makes long hospital days feel less long.

That approachable look is intentional, says Osaka University robotics professor Hiroshi Ishiguro. “Care robots for the elderly should not only perform physical tasks, but also have an appearance that makes it easy for the elderly to communicate with them.”

Cost and availability: There’s no public sticker price, but early prototypes were in “luxury-car” territory: roughly $100,000, depending on setup. For now, you’ll mostly spot Grace in pilot programs and demos across Asia and the Middle East, not clocking in for the night shift at your local hospital.

Verdict: Grace embodies where social robotics is heading: multilingual conversation, vital-sign sensing and bedside presence. It’s encouraging to watch, but in 2025 she’s still more show-and-tell than staff-and-schedule.

A photo shows a couple louging on a couch. On the floor in front of them is the Samsung Ballie

Samsung Ballie rolls around your home projecting health reminders on your walls. Just hope it survives the throw rugs.

Courtesy Samsung

The rolling, chatty sidekick

The Samsung Ballie is the little rolling sidekick that wants to run your smart home and beam life onto your walls, including workouts, reminders, even a quick “How do I look?” fashion check if you’re feeling brave. First teased in 2020 and reintroduced at CES 2024 with smarter on-board AI, it’s basically Alexa on wheels with a pocket projector.

Cost and availability: Samsung opened preregistration in 2025 and said Ballie would arrive this year, though there have been reports of delays. It hasn’t shared an official U.S. price yet.

Verdict: A mobile projector-assistant is fun until it meets a throw rug, an energetic dog or a grandkid doing laps. If Ballie lives with you, make sure to clear paths, and “no-go” zones are the name of the game. (So far, most demos are controlled. Evidence of how Ballie does in real homes is limited.)

a photo shows a man and two women talking. The man and one of the women are wearing XRAI AR2 glasses

XRAI AR2 glasses turn conversations into live captions for noisy restaurants and mumbled speech.

Courtesy XRAI

Captioning glasses that make understanding easier

Think of these as closed captions for everyday life. You put on a pair of glasses and presto, spoken words show up as text in your field of view. Doctor’s office, noisy restaurant, family dinner where three people talk at once … instead of guessing, you can just read along. They don’t replace hearing aids or implants; they fill the gaps when speech gets muddy.

XRAI AR2 Glasses take the “smartphone buddy” approach. The glasses pair with an app on your phone that does the heavy lifting and feeds captions to your lenses. XRAI adds features through software updates. Prescription lens inserts are available through partners, so you don’t have to juggle readers on top of readers. The price is around $880.

XanderGlasses is the “no phone required” option. Everything runs on the headset itself, so captions stay local and private. It’s also the priciest of the bunch at $4,999, and you’ll plan around battery life (up to six hours at a go). On the plus side, setup is simple, and you can add prescription distance lenses so you’re not layering eyewear. If you want maximum convenience and privacy without subscriptions, this is the premium route.

Captify Pro Glasses splits the difference: a consumer-friendly price ($899, often discounted to around $749) with a phone connection for extra features. You get on-glasses mics and a dual display, plus an optional subscription for bells and whistles like higher accuracy modes or speaker ID. Captify is also designed to accept prescription lenses, which makes them easier to wear all day. If you like value and don’t mind pairing to a phone, this is the “sweet spot” choice.

Verdict: These really can help, but they’re not magic. “Right now, they fill gaps where hearing aids or implants fall short,” says Raja Kushalnagar, a professor at Gallaudet University, an academic institution for the deaf and hard of hearing. But accuracy dips with background noise, mumblers and cross talk. You’ll also want to try frames to see which ones fit your face. And note the workflow: XRAI and Captify lean on a phone (more features, more updates), while Xander keeps everything on-device (simpler, more private, higher price).

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A photo shows an older adult woman with Tombot Jennie, a cuddly robot retriever

Meet Tombot Jennie, a cuddly robot retriever that nuzzles and responds. It’s companionship without vet bills.

Courtesy Tombot

Tombot Jennie, the better-behaved robot puppy

Loneliness isn’t just an emotion; it’s a health risk. A 2024 Mayo Clinic study of more than 280,000 adults found that people with fewer social ties aged biologically faster than their peers. That explains the rush to design gadgets that promise to soften solitude. But can a robot dog really help?

Tombot Jennie is a robot golden retriever puppy that runs on batteries instead of kibble. Designed with the help of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Jennie was born after CEO Tom Stevens had to give up his mother’s real dog when her dementia made caring for her dog unsafe. Jennie looks like a snuggly lab pup, responds to touch and emits AI-powered yips. Unlike a living pet, she won’t need a walk at 3 a.m. or chew through your slippers.

Cost and availability: Not listed on their site, but when pressed on Reddit, Stevens said the price is “estimated at $1,500.” They’ve sold out of their “first litter,” according to the website, but you can add your name to a wait-list and they’ll reach out about exact pricing and availability.

Verdict: A robot pet can be a soothing sidekick, especially for people who can’t safely care for a live animal. But it shouldn’t be handed out like a pacifier. “If it is imposed without choice, or used as a replacement for human connection or social care, it risks being infantilizing and harmful,” says Barbara Barbosa Neves, a researcher at the University of Sydney who studies how technology is being integrated into aged care.

With virtual reality, travel the world from your home

Rendever is built for older adult communities: Staff queue up guided sessions so residents can “tour” Paris, stroll the Grand Canyon or revisit childhood neighborhoods, then chat about it like they just stepped off the bus. It’s less about escape than sparking conversations.

Cost and availability: Available for both care providers and individuals, with subscriptions ranging from free (for five sessions per month) to $79 per month for unlimited sessions and live expert hosts.

Verdict: Virtual reality can’t replace relationships, but it can fuel them, especially when sessions end in reminiscing, storytelling and inside jokes. “What alleviates loneliness are meaningful relationships and a sense of belonging,” says Barbosa Neves. “Technologies like VR can sometimes help support this, but only when embedded within wider networks … that foster genuine connection.”

The robotic tail that keeps you balanced

Every year, more than 14 million older adults take a fall, according to the CDC, and about a million of them land in the hospital, which is why the “don’t-fall tech” is booming. Nature solved balance with tails; humans evolved without them. Arque is a one-meter, wearable robotic tail from Japan’s Keio University that straps around your waist and uses pneumatic “muscles” to counterbalance your body. It’s a real research prototype (first introduced in 2019), not a gag — built by the Embodied Media team to explore how a tail might steady lifting, climbing or tricky terrain. The researchers themselves describe it as an “extension of the human body.”

Cost and availability: No consumer version yet. Today’s rig still relies on a tethered air compressor, which makes it more “industrial dress-up” than daily accessory, at least until it’s battery-powered and slimmed down.

Verdict: Could a tail help with balance? In theory, yes. That’s the point of the research. In practice, you’re not wearing this to brunch (yet). File under fascinating idea, but in the very early days.

A photo shows a woman wearing a Helite HipGuard, a wearable airbag for your hips. It inflates during a fall to turn a hard landing into a soft one.

Helite HipGuard is a wearable airbag for your hips. It inflates during a fall to turn a hard landing into a soft one.

Courtesy Helite

Body airbag belts that soften your fall

Think car airbags, but for hips. These belts sit around your waist, watch for a hard fall, and inflate cushions over your hips mid-tumble. Brands include FutureAge, Tango (from ActiveProtective) and Helite Hip’Guard.

a photo shows Tango, a smart hip airbag that detects a fall and inflates fast.

Tango is a smart hip airbag that detects a fall and inflates fast. The companion app tracks wear time and confidence.

Courtesy Tango

Cost and availability: Prices vary by brand and features. Helite Hip’Air/Hip’Guard launched at around $800; FutureAge lists at €595 (about $695 USD); Tango markets to senior living and health care buyers (contact for pricing).

A photo shows a woman and man walking. She is wearing the wearable airbag belt from FutureAge

The wearable airbag belt from FutureAge turns a stumble into a soft landing.

Courtesy FutureAge

Verdict: The goal is pre-impact protection; the challenge is reliably spotting a true fall in time. Reviews and research agree the tech is promising and getting better as sensors and algorithms improve. This technology “could be a lifesaver,” says Robert Gregg, director of the Locomotor Control Systems Lab at the University of Michigan, but accuracy and real-world deployment matter. It’s not glamorous, but it’s genuinely practical. If you’re worried about hip fractures, an airbag on your belt beats a night in the ER.

a photo shows Nobi, a device that looks like a ceiling lamp, but it watches for falls, lights your path at night, and calls for help when needed.

Nobi looks like a ceiling lamp, but it watches for falls, lights your path at night, and calls for help when needed.

Courtesy Nobi

The ceiling light with fall detection

From the outside, the Nobi Smart Lamp looks like a modern ceiling lamp. Inside, it’s packed with sensors and AI vision. It brightens a path when you get up at night, asks “Did you fall?” if it detects trouble, and can call for help. Basically, a polite guardian angel wearing a lampshade.

Cost and availability: In North America, authorized dealers list Nobi as a bundled system rather than a simple one-off lamp. Typical packages range from $2,300 to $3,100 and include hardware plus a one-year service subscription. Multiyear bundles are also offered. After the first year, an ongoing subscription is required for monitoring/alert features (some U.S. partners’ quotes start at $65 per month, with higher tiers depending on services and installation).

Verdict: Useful in concept, pricey in practice. Imagine Alexa crossed with a hall monitor, and you’ve got the vibe. It’s smart, subtle and always plugged in, with no batteries to forget. The trade-off is price and installation planning (which rooms, who’s notified). Best results come when families or care teams actually respond to alerts. Tech only helps if someone picks up the call.

The clip-on lighting for canes and walkers

NexStride is a small box that clips to your cane or walker and projects a green laser line on the floor while tapping out a metronome beat. For people with gait freeze, a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease, those visual and audio cues can “unstick” the brain’s motor circuits and help them step forward smoothly.

Cost and availability: Expect to pay around $500, sold direct and through medical suppliers. It works with most standard canes and rollators, no subscription required.

Verdict: Decades of rehab research support cueing for Parkinson’s gait issues. NexStride’s draw is that it brings those clinic tricks to your everyday walk — on your own handle, not trapped in a therapy room. Try the fit on your usual cane or walker to make sure the laser lands where you look. It’s basically cyberpunk PT. Less flashy than a robot tail, but far more likely to keep you on your feet.

The spoon that ‘salts’ your food

Kirin’s Electric Salt Spoon zaps your tongue, running a faint electrical current that makes low-sodium food taste saltier without adding actual salt. The tech was codeveloped with Meiji University in Japan and launched in limited runs in 2024; Kirin has since introduced an upgraded line (and discontinued the first model) as of September 2025.

Cost and availability: Initial consumer batches were priced at 27,950 yen (about $179), sold online in Japan with limited retail. Check Kirin’s newsroom for the current model and international plans.

Verdict: “Much of the sodium we consume is found in foods that may not be appreciably salty,” explains John E. Hayes, a professor of food science at Penn State. “So even if you cut discretionary salt intake at the table by eliminating the salt shaker, people may still struggle to achieve recommended intake amounts.” A spoon that fakes out your taste buds could help close that gap.

a photo shows Obi, a tabletop robot arm that serves your meal on command

Obi is a tabletop robot arm that serves your meal on command. You pick the bite and it brings the spoon.

Courtesy ObiFood

The tabletop robot arm that feeds you

The Obi Robotic Feeder is a tabletop robot arm that scoops food from one of four bowls and delivers it to your mouth on command. That turns “being fed” back into choosing what bite comes next. Rehabilitation engineering pioneer Rory A. Cooper champions this kind of tech. “The ability to eat what one wants, when one wants, and with whom is a common aspiration of nearly all people,” he says.

Cost and availability: Obi’s current generation is sold direct and through medical suppliers; recent U.S. listings show prices ranging between $8,000 to $13,400. (Clinic and insurance programs may vary.)

Verdict: Less Jetsons, more liberation at the dinner table. For the right user, this is dignity in a robot arm. It’s a serious medical device with a serious price. Transformative if it matches your needs and budget.

A photo shows Casana's Heart Seat toilet seat

Heart Seat checks your vitals while you sit. Heart rate and oxygen levels with no cuffs or wires.

Courtesy Casana

Smart toilets that give you health data

Since we’re talking food, we might as well include where it ends up. Two “smart toilets” have entered the chat.

Casana’s Heart Seat looks like a normal toilet seat but captures heart rate and oxygen saturation while you sit. (It was cleared by the FDA in 2023.) And Toi Labs’ TrueLoo is a smart toilet seat that monitors what’s in the bowl to flag possible changes in health, and is sold direct to consumers.

Cost and availability: Casana continues to pursue additional FDA clearances (e.g., blood pressure) and has a wellness SmartSeat in the meantime. TrueLoo lists at $349 plus a $15/month subscription for monitoring.

Verdict: Potentially powerful, if someone’s actually looking at the data. As tech analyst Laurie Orlov notes, bathroom and home sensors are most useful when they feed a larger monitoring strategy. “As a stand-alone, I don’t think that’s useful,” she says. In short, it’s great for doctors, less great for cocktail conversation.

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