Cory Kidd wants you to believe that the solution to our obesity problem may come in an adorable, little, white plastic robot. Kidd has been studying human health and robot design for the better part of two decades. His most recent creation, Autom, is a tiny robot designed to keep your diet on track. He’s like Borderlands‘ Claptrap, but worried more about your diet than his dancing. He believes there is a key difference between his robot and all of the other attempts that have been made at tackling obesity:

Studies have shown that when people have the same interaction with a robot and a screen-based character, they remain engaged longer with the robot and find the information presented more informative and reliable.

Kidd’s bot will need to strike an extremely delicate balance between effecting esteem, coming off as caring and remaining respectable. This robot will need to be an authoritative figure while also being pleasant.

[via FastCompany]