Geek's Talk II: Weight Loss Programme

We know that losing weight is difficult (yes! ..i'm perfectly agree with it!). You're excited to start a new diet, but start to lose your motivation after only a few weeks (not even a week, ... show me nasi lemak, nasi dagang .. i will scrap all my diet plans). Therefore, when it comes to losing weight, most people can use a helping hand, but imagine if you had a weight-loss coach around to help you 24 hours, 7 days? Imagine if that coach was a robot. What a minute … what ? robot to help me to stick with the dieting programme (and let it go my nasi dagang?, Big Mac, caramel ice cream, ..?) .. I do believe it works when Maya Karin or Nasha Aziz or Pamela Anderson or Ellen Page is handling my diet routines (ermmm i guess i will stick to the programme longer .. while maintaining my weight, and showing them a little progress ..he .he .heh ~ wake up! ~ muntah diorg baca nanti).

(Left: Maya Karin (i prefer the "tudung" version), Nasha Aziz (how cute ..), and Ellen Page ~ * sorry no Pam here, too explicit :-) ~ pathetic geek i am. ..heh ..heh.. heh. )

But robot ? .. humhhpp. But guys, the newest weight-loss tool has been created: a robot diet coach. "The robot is designed to always be supportive and helpful. It's not going to chastise me if I haven't done well," said Cory Kidd, MIT Media Lab researcher and founder and CEO of Intuitive Automata, Inc. Kidd spent 18 months developing the robot that plugs into an outlet and recognizes who its talking to through its four motors and cameras for his PhD's dissertation project (18 months? .. it will be taking me forever then :-) ). The robot name is Autom (from the Greek word for robot "automaton"), has being described as a 'weight maintenance sociable robot'.

(Left and Middle: Corry Kid, with his brain-child. Next to the right: ~ The naked version of Autom ..heh..heh..heh) * photos courtesy from Media Lab, MIT.

Autom allows users to interact with the robot through a touchpad, whilst it tracks your face and actually speaks to you.The robot asks dieters to input data about what they ate and how much they exercised, then stores the data and also provides feedback on how to meet weight loss goal. Here's hoping it's not programmed to say "you fat cow, lay off that Big Mac .. (oh nooooo!) " or greet you "Good Morning, How are you, my dear fat and hopeless cellulites bunker git ".

Does it works ? Well guys, according to the initial studies, robot users stayed on their weight-loss program nearly twice as long as dieters who used traditional computer programs or hand-written logs, proof that a little high-tech help can go a long way. Autom helps by encouraging a person to stick with a diet for long enough to create long-term change and keep extra kilos' off. And the Autom already has a host of fans, singing its praises. Amna Carreiro lost 9 pounds in eight weeks. "It was interactive. It was very personable. By putting the information in, I got instant feedback, so I was able to track my goals and basically adjust my exercising and eating habits," Carreiro said. So, who will be next ? .. heh..heh..heh. (guess it will be me then ~ )

(Acknowledgment: all photos were taken from the Internet, from many sites.)