USC doctoral candidate develops social health app

Technology has given people unparalleled opportunities to socially connect and share information. It is not, however, normally associated with improving one’s physical health. Many spend hours “plugged in” to their tech toys, preferring to stare at a screen than spend time on exercise and outdoor activities.

An apple a day · With a background in health studies, Harsh Vathsangam has come up with an effective way to encourage exercise. – Courtesy of Harsh Vathsangam

Despite this, technology does not have to work against one’s personal well-being. USC doctoral candidate Harshvardhan Vathsangam seeks to harness technology to encourage people to get moving and lead healthier lives through his app.

MeasureMe, Vathsangam’s budding company, has developed a smart and social software-based pedometer and calorie counter that uses the sensors in smartphones to characterize and quantify human movement.

MeasureMe is unlike applications such as Fitbit or Nike+ Fuelband, which burn through a phone’s battery life, making the apps frustrating for some users. Instead, MeasureMe utilizes the sensors in the phone, rather than GPS or any external sensing technique, which means a user can save 10 times as much power on their phone.

“MeasureMe has the potential to greatly improve [ease of use] and brings cost-effective activity monitoring into the pocket of every user,” Vathsangam said.

Vathsangam, who collaborated with Gaurav S. Sukhatme, a professor of computer science at USC who serves as the chair of the Department of Computer Science, has had plenty of experience melding health and technology.

Vathsangam spent four years studying on-body sensing and personal health and previously developed three generations of prototype hardware, building up the data-driven algorithmic framework to bring the product to its current level.

Vathsangam said his ultimate goal when designing his app was to change the way people behave in accordance to physical activity.

In Vathsangam and Sukhatme’s opinion, there are three ways to effectively change people’s behaviors. First, Vathsangam said it is important to correct behavior in real time so that one is conscious of when they revert to bad habits. The second, just as important, is to receive pressure from loved ones.

“When someone feels pressure from people he or she cares about, they are more likely to change his or her behavior in order to receive approval from them,” Vathsangam said.

The third way is by tailoring the application to meet the expectations of each individual.

“There was never a tool to tailor it to specific people until the invention of cell phones,” Vathsangam said. “Everyone has a cell phone, therefore everyone can receive personalized information in order to change their behavior.”

To achieve this, the student-professor team programmed the application to use the power of big data to motivate the user to become more active. The application sends notifications to the user’s cell phone, reminding the user to meet his or her daily goal of exercise.

MeasureMe’s app also encourages friendly competition among users of the app. Users can check on the progress of friends to see how they are doing and keep them inspired.

The chat feature on the application also allows users to send messages back and forth about their exercise for the day.

It’s easy to get lost in the technical bells and whistles of the app, but Vathsangam stressed that at the end of the day, the app is not about the numbers.

“The application allows people to collaborate and encourages competition between friends,” Vathsangam said. “We want to make it an interactive experience for users.

The purpose of this application was to create a social platform that builds off data that people generate in real time in order to induce lifestyle changes.”

The application is in beta right now, but Vathsangam said that his app will be released this summer in mid-May.