Pablo Paredes on Non-Volitional Behavior Change in Everyday Robotics
With the ubiquity of computers in our everyday lives, BCNM alum and Stanford Clinical Assistant Professor Pablo Paredes investigates how robots can guide humans through less sedentary ways of using our devices. His most recent work investigated ergonomic sit-stand desks that guide people to use them through non-volitional behavior changes. It has implications for promoting more healthy human-computer interactions.
From the paper:
We introduce and explore the concept of non-volitional behavior change, a novel category of behavior change interventions, and apply it in the context of promoting healthy behaviors through an automated sit-stand desk. While routine use of sit-stand desks can increase health outcomes, compliance decreases quickly and behavioral nudges tend to be dismissed. To address this issue, we introduce robotic furniture that moves on its own to promote healthy movement. In an in-person preliminary study, we explored users' impressions of an autonomous sit-stand desk prototype that changes position at regular pre-set time intervals while participants complete multiple tasks.
Read the paper here.