Need to lose weight? Get some help from an unusual diet coach

Need to lose weight? Get some help from an unusual diet coach

Need help keeping a weight-loss diet on track?

A new study shows that dieters who consulted daily with a diet coach stuck to their regime nearly twice as long as those who used hand-written logs or computer logs to keep tabs on their progress.

But the diet coach in this study wasn’t a svelte drill sergeant who showed up every day to monitor calorie intake and oversee treadmill miles. This diet coach was a robot.

Intuitive Automata is a small company in Boston that’s developed a counter-top robot named Autom. Every day, Autom asks you to record dietary and exercise data on a touch screen, and then it talks to you about your progress.

If you’ve ever watched The Biggest Loser television show, you know that weight-loss coaches may have a tendency to get exasperated and pushy at times. But Cory Kidd, Ph.D., specifically designed Autom to offer unwavering support.

Dr. Kidd told Invanhoe Insider, “It’s not going to chastise me if I haven’t done well.”

In fact, Dr. Kidd has equipped Autom with motors and cameras in its big brown eyes so that the robot appears to be listening to you as you confess the cheesecake you indulged in at lunch.

But a robot with big brown eyes is still a robot. And anyone who’s seen the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey or I, Robot may balk at the idea of keeping an unblinking android in their home. When a soothing voice says something like, “Good evening, Jenny. What did you eat today?” I might be tempted to tell Autom to mind its own business.

For those who don’t have robot-intimacy issues, Autom will soon be available for purchase. Until then you can get a look at Autom at intuitiveautomata.com.

Source:
“Diet by Robot” Ivanhoe Newswire, 3/25/08, ivanhoe.com