Re:Show HN: Jumper, a robot to help you exercise every day
by aroc on Saturday October 15, 2016 @07:27PM
(#12716101)
So this the crux of this whole project. You nailed what is "interesting" here. This should, by no means, be more effective for anyone who's currently using it. This bot is pretty damn simple. But the personification is seemingly the reason it "works". I did actually spend a reasonable amount of time writing (what I think) are kind of goofy/silly/funny/motivational responses to things which I think has made this project fare much better than simple "You worked out? K thanks." style responses.
Example: My girlfriend joked recently, after starting to exercise a lot more after a short hiatus, that she was "rekindling her relationship with Jumper." I found that statement pretty deep - that's not something she would have said about a standard exercise app (I think?).
Do you think this working better for yourself (and your friends, I take it) is a result of motivational agents being inherently more effective as chat bots than traditional push-based systems (SMS/emails/app notifications)?