Fitness Coach

1
Fitness Coach

• Design the human-agent interaction for a system
  that assists users in maintaining a fitness
  routine.

2
User Needs

• Why do people go to the gym?
• Fitness - mental physical health-wise,
  self-esteem, strength
• Recreation for fun to feel good, spend time
  with a friend/dog

3
User Needs (cont.)
4
User Needs (cont.)

• What do users need from their fitness coach?
• Incentive/disincentive structure users require
  motivation to work out on a regular basis
• Commitment, reminder, scheduling help, check-in
  when doing the required behavior
• Entertainment while working out
• Social engagement
• Inexpensive solution
• Efficient / expedited process
• Mobility - Flexibility of workout locations
• Progress record

5
Scenarios

• Busy Bonnie this user has an extremely tight
  schedule (open timeslots are very short), so the
  agent should facilitate a quick work out session
• Forgetful Frank this user enjoys working out,
  but frequently forgets when he has free time or
  where he is in his workout routine, so the
  fitness coach would initiate a dialog to remind
  Frank of his exercise commitments
• Social Sally she only wants to go to the gym if
  friends will be there as well, so the agent
  should negotiate between her schedule and those
  of her friends to find times that she can work
  out with them

6
Design addresses the issues

• How does the system allow users to indicate
  preferences and tasks?
• 2. How does the system monitor users to learn
  tasks and behaviors?
• 3. How is what is learned in monitoring fed back
  to the user?
• 4. How does the system negotiate for control with
  users?
• 5. How does the agent interrupt the user for
  clarification or notification of events?
• 6. How does the agent communicate its level of
  intelligence and its domain knowledge?
• 7. How is the agent instantiated?