Based on the worsening of what we’ve come to call the “obesity epidemic” in Western societies, it seems that folks need a drastic solution for getting and staying fit. Forget all of those touchy-feely inspirational approaches. What we need now is a really big, really scary robot trainer. This guy is called Gymbot, and its creator thinks that it might be an indispensable weight loss tool in the year 2020.

Gymbot was dreamed up by designer Max Battaglia to help whip puny human softbodies into shape. The conceptual ‘bot would stay in the user’s home 24 hours a day to coach the human owner in matters of healthy eating and an active lifestyle. Sensors in the Gymbot analyze the user’s body composition so that the robot can give advice on how to get healthier.

According to Battaglia, the Gymbot is meant to motivate overweight people who realize they have a problem but do not have the motivation to change their lifestyles. And presumably, this problem is solved when you have a scary-looking humanoid standing over you telling you to stand up and start exercising.

But the Gymbot isn’t all about fear, intimidation and slightly terrifying orders. Like any good trainer, it gives gentle guidance, too. It will demonstrate the correct way to perform exercises and give pointers when it sees incorrect form being used. It will even do the exercises along with you, giving you the benefit of the “buddy system” while you work off yesterday’s double cheeseburger.

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It’s been proven that working out and dieting with a friend can increase your success rate. This is thought to be because you feel accountable to your buddy and don’t want to disappoint. Could the same concept work if the “buddy” isn’t human? Autom is a sweet little robotic diet coach that will help you stick to a diet and exercise routine by keeping track of your food intake and your exercise habits.

The idea is that looking at a cute face and hearing a soothing voice is a more positive interaction than entering your data into a mobile or web-based application. Autom asks you what you’ve eaten and how much you have exercised, then offers some helpful tips about sticking to your healthy lifestyle. She’s wi-fi enabled so she’s constantly updated, and she learns from conversations with you.

Like the Roomba before her, Autom is a groundbreaking home helper robot. Users form an emotional bond with the bot and depend on her for diet information and encouragement. It may sound strange, but maybe a weight loss helper robot is exactly what some people need to keep them on the right track. Autom is available for pre-order now for $199 – but the weight loss service that she uses will cost you $20/month.

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Put the fork down! If you’ve ever tried to diet away some extra pounds, those are some of the most annoying words in the English language. But being more aware of what you put into your body is one of the most effective ways to cut down on calorie consumption and shift that unwanted weight. A team of researchers from Clemson University have invented the Bite Counter, a kind of pedometer for your eating habits.

The device fits on your wrist just like a watch and counts the wrist-roll motion you make when taking bites of food from a utensil. It certainly isn’t a calorie measurement device since it doesn’t track the type of food you are eating or the nutrients in your meals, but it can help to give you a rough idea of just how much you’re putting into your mouth at every meal. According to the researchers, the device is over 90% accurate when counting bites regardless of variables like person, utensil, food or container.

The device is already being manufactured and the team behind its creation have applied for a patent on the design. The real promise of the Bite Counter might not be for personal weight loss, but for research. And since the gadget will run around $800, it will probably be out of the price range of the average weight watcher anyway.

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If you want to shift some excess weight, your first instinct might be to reach for the carrot sticks or lace up your running shoes. That’s the old way to lose weight, though – and science has a much better idea: a designer virus. In studies at Johns Hopkins University, rats who were injected with a certain virus ate less and weighed less than rats in the control group. The virus inhibited the neuropeptide Y (NPY) protein in the brain, resulting in decreased hunger.

There were, however, some even more surprising effects of the virus. Rats who received the virus and subsequently ate huge amounts of high-calorie foods didn’t develop the expected white fat build-up; instead, they developed brown fat which is much easier for the body to burn off. The virus is a very, very long way off from being used on humans, but if it makes it to people one day we might be able to look forward to smaller appetites and a greater percentage of “healthy” fat on our bones.

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