These responsive garments by Yves Béhar's studio Fuseproject feature "electric muscles" that assist elderly wearers to walk, stand up and climb stairs.

The Aura Powered Clothing collection was designed in collaboration with robotics company Superflex. It was unveiled yesterday at the New Old exhibition at London's Design Museum, which explores how designers can enhance people's day-to-day experiences in later life.
The clothing, which is made from a lightweight and flexible fabric, aims to provide the ageing population with a higher level of strength through a series of motors housed in hexagonal pods.

The pods ? or "electric muscles" ? are located on the torso, hips, legs and back, and embedded with sensors. Each uses artificial intelligence to react to the body's natural movements, and add muscle power to aid the wearer in getting up, sitting down or staying upright.

"When we talk about designing for an ageing population, the standard approach has been to provide aid in the home ? completing tasks, welfare modules, accommodating a lack of mobility, which results in a life lived more statically," said Béhar, whose San Francisco-based studio is also presenting a robot companion at the exhibition.
"But what if technology could help us continue to move about the world and engage with it, physically, socially and emotionally"" he added. "This is the question Superflex is answering with the concept of Powered Clothing: to...