2018/08 ~ 2019/04

KomaFlens

Role: Project Leader / MR UI Design / Lead Engineer
Language: Unity C#

People’s awareness regarding malnutrition is a major issue in many countries. According to Global Disease Risk 2013 Collaborators, 11.3 million deaths per year attributed to malnutrition. Though there are many policies targeting diet such as information campaigns and more recently, series of interventions changing food labels to encourage consumers make healthy choices, studies show that long term changes are difficult to achieve. We introduce KomaFLens, an app built for Microsoft HoloLens, that aims to motivate dietary habit modification through gamification, a behavior modification technique. The goal of this project is to motivate the user to make healthier choices in their diet.

Sensing: Lifelogging
Users can record what they ate by taking a photo of the food label using the built-in camera. The photo is then sent to Microsoft Azure Computer Vision API to extract text using OCR from the label. The returned value is then parsed and saved locally according to essential nutrient data such as energy, sodium, fat, etc.

Processing: Nutrient Diet Score
KomaFLens adopts and utilizes “Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top”. The nutrient score is assessed based upon 5 rating categories: grain, vegetable, fish and meat, milk, and fruits. The app sorts user’s food records by categories and calculates each point. The ideal index of each category is estimated on the basis of body weight and height.

Actuation: Displaying the Top
KomaFLens displays the spinning top as a holographic object. By visualizing the layers according to the nutrient score, user can easily interpret which category he/she is lacking or overconsuming.

Behavior Modification: Gamification
Another significant feature implemented in KomaFlens is the battle function. When 2 KomaFlens users come into close proximity the battle begins. 2 tops collide and compete with each other to spin longer. Users will air-tap and shoot missiles to knock out the opponent’s top. The top that falls indicates a less balanced meal, while the winning top signifies a healthy diet. The primary purpose of this project is to encourage people to be food conscious and to promote awareness for healthy lifestyle. Appealing to the visual senses using HoloLens and gamification is an effective way to impact mindful eating for wellness.