Foodsy Chatbot for Nutrition Tracking in Cardiac Rehabilitation
About
My project this semester has been twofold: leading the design of a researcher friendly chatbot ecosystem for TU/e’s NUTRI_Lab working group, while simultaneously designing Foodsy, a chat- bot based nutrition intervention for cardiac rehabilitation. Over the course of the semester, the Foodsy Chatbot became the first use case of the NUTRI_Lab project, offering the perfect scenario for rapid testing and iteration.
The NUTRI_Lab Chatbot system is a a technological ecosystem that enables designers and researchers to create chatbots with varying complexity, for various user groups in the clinical context. The first use case of the NUTRI_Lab chatbot is Foodsy, the food tracking chatbot for cardiac rehabilitation. Foodsy offers a low-burden way for a variety of patients to track their food consumption. By positioning the use of chat bot in the ≈ 2 week waiting period before rehabilitation starts, patients can already begin making changes to their diet while their motivation is high. Using emojis to track food intake at the level of food groups is a simple way for patients to keep track of their progress towards their goal.
Competency Areas Built
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Creativity + Aesthetics
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Technology + Realization
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Math, Data + Computing
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User + Society
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Business + Entrepreneurship
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Design + Research Processes
Grade: P
M2.1 Project
Reflection
NUTRI_Lab Chatbot Infrastructure
This semester felt different than others, upon reflecting why, I realized that it is because of the groundwork laid in my m1.2 research project. The extensive work I put in last semester to map and understand design for nutrition has allowed me to feel confident holding my own with nutrition researchers, dieticians, doctors and specialists, while at the same time being able to connect their input with that of designers, developers and academics. It has showed me how much I enjoy taking a deep dive, grounding my work in academic literature and intimately getting to know a design space, which is valuable to know going forward into my career.
This is also the first project where I have really experienced part of my vision statement in action, bringing expertise from across disciplines together in order to tackle a multifaceted and complex challenge. It is one thing to say that you see the role of the designer as a connector, but actually being that connector has confirmed that the personal strengths of my identity fit well with this role. My natural strengths, such as communicating and presenting my ideas clearly, leading a group, and being actively inclusive have been complemented by the skills I have needed to build during this project, such as project management and building professional relationships. Throughout this project, I have shown myself that I have the expertise, language and sensitivity to bridge the disciplines, and have built competence in managing design processes that not only include myself, but also others.