I believe that at the end of the year, if enough marketing money is pumped into pushing out the Autom robot among the masses, it will do very well. After all, how many robots out there help you shed weight? Rarely, considering the fact that they tend to help you pile on the pounds simply because they make your life easier. The $865 Autom from Hong Kong is a 15″ tall talking robot that sports an LCD touchscreen display, where you will use it to insert data on calories which you consume as well as the amount of exercise that you perform each day.
Depending on your performance and what you put into your body, the robot will respond with customized advice and encouragement, where you can also keep things fresh by downloading new speech patterns from the Internet.
According to developer Cory Kidd, Autom is more successful than phone- or Web-based apps when it comes to the battle of the bulge simply because there is a “psychological difference” which concerns a machine that sports a head, blinking eyes, and body.