Design and Evaluation of a Smart Environment with a Conversational Agent for Mindful Eating

Abstract

The field of Human-Food Interaction focuses on creating and evaluating HCI interactions around food. Increasingly, the use of smartphones is part of people’s eating experience which leads to distractions and unawareness on the amount and quality of food that is eaten. In contrast, mindful eating promotes people to focus completely on their food, reducing distractions. We present an experiment in which we evaluate a smart environment for mindful eating/drinking aimed at enhancing the hedonic experience. A conversational agent acts as a hub for the smart environment and guides the user in the preparation and appreciation of tea and its pairing with a snack. We compared how independent participants assessed the system under two conditions: mindful (n = 10) and music (n = 12). Participants who interacted with the mindful conversational agent rated the system more likable in comparison with the agent that played music. Similarly, those in the mindful condition reported increased appreciation of the colors and smells of their tea. Additionally, our results show that all participants (n = 22) perceived the system as accurate, likable, quick to react, and promotes awareness. Conversely, participants rated the system low in annoyance, cognitive demand, and distraction.