1. Just Keep Moving
Dr. Ben Meisel, Anupam Kumar, Chitvan Gupta, Harsh Vathsangam
February 22, 2013
Abstract
We intend to create a mobile phone gaming app that pulls people to exercising by enticing them with
music. Our Just keep moving app would automatically gather data about calorie expenditure by detecting
the user's movements while he exercises and subsequently would guide the users to make health-improvement
goals. On the surface, the primary function of the app would seem to be to entice people to Just keep moving
by searching for and playing upbeat music that matches the rhythm and intensity of the user while he
exercises. But, utilizing proprietary algorithms, the app would be able to calculate caloric expenditure from
the exercise movements performed. This data would then be presented to the user visually and in practical
terms (e.g. by burning calories like so, how long might it take to lose 1pound/kilogram or get to ideal body
weight). Thats where the fun starts and the app moves beyond being just an exercise companion and health
advisor. Using this data, the app would predict the time frame required to reach the user's ideal BMI. The
app would also suggest alternate exercise regimes that the user may choose to adopt, to reach his/her health
goals within a shorter time frame and these suggestion would be given visually and as audio cues. The user
would also have the option to set his/her own health-goals. Once set, the app would then suggest a specic
set of music-tracks to help keep the user on track with his/her goals. When goals are eventually reached, the
app would become and could be used as a socially enabled platform for users to challenge each other, work
together, and out-perform each other in terms of movement, caloric expenditure, and community tness
tying one's personal goals to the improvement of health and increase in movement for the entire userbase
community as a whole.
1 Introduction
We human beings are under attack. The attack is not by one particular group, organization or entity, but by us,
on ourselves. All public health studies show that the average human being's lifestyle is becoming more and more
sedentary. And a sedentary lifestyle with little or no regular physical activity is proven as a major contributor
to many preventable causes of death like heart disease, Type-II diabetes, and dementia. Many people realize
this, but due to the increasing availability of high calorie foods, increase in non-active screen time, and increased
reliance on motorized transport, we are collectively taking in more calories and not burning them up the way
people used to. Most of us are succumbing to this recipe for obesity and lower physical activity. Perhaps the
hurdles to increase physical activity seem too high or perhaps we give up trying because our expectations for
achieving tness goals are not realistic. It is very easy to lose motivation when the problem seems insurmountable
and the results are not instantaneous.
Now, imagine that you or someone you know wishes to increase physical activity or start an exercise regimen.
But you do not see any substantial results after a few weeks of activity. And you are not sure whether the regimen
is eective or not. Fortunately, you discover an app that playfully nds music to match your exercise pace, tells
you how many calories you're burning while moving to the music, or suggests other music that might Keep
You Moving . . . .or even suggests a set of music tracks that might enable you to achieve a certain calorie-burn or
weight loss goal in a specic amount of time. It asks you whether you know whether you are at a desired weight
or level of tness. If not, it says want to know how long it might take you to get to a specic weight if you Just
keep moving ? By entering your height current weight, it would tell you how long it would take to lose one
pound, tell you your Ideal Body Weight and how many days it would take to achieve it given the current level of
activity. Then, based on specic stretches of activity that you do with the app it could suggest musical pacing
to achieve your goals within dierent timeframes (e.g. 3 months v.s. 6 months v.s. 1 year). Music to match
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2. your intensity, encouragement to Just keep moving, and practical data analysis to achieve increased movement
and healthy weight, would be the highlight attraction of our app. We believe that such an app would make a
tremendous dierence in the physical activity regimen of many people (especially those with Type-II diabetes)
and help them pave a realistic, fun-lled and enjoyable roadmap to better physical health and tness. And while
helping assist people to reach realistic goals, it would help them maintain those goals by enabling social game
play to facilitate fun competition and teamwork between users. We would like to describe our ideal app, in
detail, and how we plan to develop and deploy it, in the following sections.
2 Software description
The software will perform the following functions:
• Identify the user's movement intensity, search nd music to match the user's intensity of
movement
The user will turn on the app and will start running/cycling/exercising and app will calculate the rate and
intensity of his workout and use a series of mathematical functions to translate the intensity of his workout
to song-beat with an appropriate and tting tempo. The app will then search the internet and look for
songs that having these tempo and beats and based on the user's genre preference, that he would have set
while creating his prole, the app would play an appropriate song to keep him motivated and charged up.
• Calculate the amount of calories burned and amount of weight lost in one workout episode
Based on the movements of the users, the app will accurately calculate how many calories the user has
burned in the workout session. And based on the user's inputs, taken before the workout and at the time of
setting up the user-prole, the app would be able to calculate the approximate weight the user lost during
the workout. And if the user had set a target weight (based on suggested healthy BMI) for himself that
he wanted to achieve, the app would also show graphically, how many days it would take him to reach his
goal, at current intensity of workout or by selecting a specic portion of the day Movement Mapped by
the app . The app could also, optionally, simulate and show how long it may take him to reach his goal if
he increases or decreases his intensity.
• Help the user choose foods that achieve a specic caloric intake to enable achievement of
tness/weight goals within a specic time period
Alternatively, the user will be able to set the goal weight he wants to achieve and the number of days
within which he wants to achieve this and app will suggest a diet and music-facilitated workout plan for
him, consisting of the amount of calories he would need to take in and burn away per day, per work out.
The app would also suggest the intensity at which he should be working out and play a sample music to
demonstrate the level of intensity required. All this information would be given by the app, only if the
goals are realistic (this would be determined with the help of the group community statistical data being
collected).
• Gamication:
Allow users to challenge each other
We plan to introduce an in-app currency called Ugobits. Each player starts with 500 Ugobits. Once
the person has racked up a certain amount of caloric expenditure in a specic amount of time, he can
invite others to beat his accomplishments can invite them to use his soundtrack or choose their
own. If the challenger is able to match the caloric expenditure in the same amount of time given,
then they are posted to the twins page. If the person they challenge is able to exceed the caloric
expenditure in that specic time frame, then the original player gives that person a certain number
of their Ugobits and the game administrators match the amount. So, if original player pledges to
give 25 Ugobits to the person/people they challenge and the challenger beats the calorie-burning goal,
then Just Keep Moving will kick-in 25 more Ugobits to the challenger (a total of 50 Ugobits for
the triumphant challenger). Eventually, these Ugobits can be used to purchase goods at advertiser's
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3. stores or downloads of songs that they like from the app. People can also purchase more Ugobits
using real dollars and gift these Ugobits to others.
Victory Dance other social aspects
Our proposed app is essentially a community driven social platform. We would have forums and
groups that would allow users to advise one another and give exercise and health tips to one another.
These will be moderated by volunteers who would make sure that no one abuses the platform. If a user
achieves their personal goals, then that user will be requested to video record a victory dance, which
will be uploaded and broadcast to all the user-base (after being screened for any explicit content), to
get others motivated as well. Also, while the user's register their prole with the app, they would
be asked to voice record them shouting, Just keep moving! . Their voice clips would be sprinkled
throughout the user-experience, and would be randomly played out during workout, to keep them
motivated!
• Other miscellanious features
Intelligent reminders to remind users periodically to Just keep moving
The app would be observing the user's movements. If the app would detect that the user is not
moving for a certain amount of time, it would attempt to remind him to move around and stretch.
However, if the user is busy(example: In class or in a meeting) and its not an appropriate time for
him/her to move, then he/she may set the app to sleep mode for a particular period of time (example:
For another one and a half hours or sync with his calendar and check for meeting times make the
app go to do not disturb mode when he/she is busy) or while the user is in within a particular area
(example: the boardroom, classroom)
Providing automated health advise and tips
Every now and then, during workout breaks and at the start of the app, the app would give the
users useful health and tness tips called Calorie Burning Secrets . And occasionally, the app would
attempt to stream very brief health news and health related podcasts.
Motivational music sharing purchase
If a user would like to purchase a music track, he may, via online retailers itunes, google play, or
amazon. Also, the user might suggest and share the track with friends, if he feels it would help them
Just keep moving.
3 Health related Data Description
To help our users make realistic exercise regiments and plans we would collect the following data descriptors.
1. We would ask the user to enter the following health tness-related information:
• Height, Weight, Date of birth, Gender,
• Automatic opt-in Geographic location (which includes information about area, eg: Urban, suburban)
• Optional Health indicators:
For example - User's weight. Or if he/she is suering from Type-II diabetes, then we would ask
the user to use a device to measure his blood-sugar levels periodically (especially before and after
exercising).
2. During the workout, we would collect the following information:
• Identied movements, extrapolated activity, and their intensity
• Calories burned would be derived from these extrapolated movement data
3. If the user uses the app to help plan his/her workout regimen , we would collect the following information:
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4. • Approximate daily caloric intake in comparison to suggested meals or meal sizes
We would store this data on a cloud server and apply statistical data analysis on it. We would use the inferences
gained through these statistical measurements to help make better and more realistic tness regiments for our
users.
Eventually we would perform data-mining on the dataset and gain valuable insight about the state of tness
in America.
Though our dataset we think we will be able to help researchers answer questions such as:
• How often and how much do people move (run, walk, other, exercise) across various geographical or
sociological settings ?
• What type of lifestyle is prevalent across dierent geographical and social settings ?
• Where are people least/most likely to follow through with the tness regimens ?
• What are the eating habits and exercise habits of users across various geographical and social classes ?
• What age group and gender is the most active and takes health, exercising and tness seriously ?
• What type of music is popularily accepted as good workout music ?
• What music intensity is most likely to keep people moving for the longest stretches ?
• What music motivates people to burn the most calories ?
• How eective is exercising to combat diebetis and depression and a other lifestyle related illnesses ?
• Many more such questions ...
Answering such questions would help the interested government, private and non-prot organizations develop
better strategies to futher improve the state of health and tness of communities across America.
4 Community Deployment Description
We plan to deploy our apps in multiple ways:
• Partner with local/regional organizations that encourage activity Let's Move, American Heart Associ-
ation, YMCA, Kaiser Permanente, Houses of Worship, Pediatricians, Type II Diabetes clinics, Obesity
intervention.
• Partner with social media and social networks like - facebook.com, reddit.com, twitter.com
• Partner with music recording studios and independent artists and musicians and allow them to feature
their songs on our app
• Make ad videos and attempt to perform viral marketing campaigns of youtube.com and other video sharing
sites
• Ask iTunes, Google Play and Android Market to feature our app
5 Conclusion
Through this app we want to start a grass root movement that will essentially be community driven and
supported. We believe that while technology has been a major cause of increased sedentary lifestyle, it is
also a great enabler for improving the state of health and increasing activity. We believe that our small idea
behind implementation of Just Keep Moving can make a big dierence in the health and activity level of this
country and beyond.
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