Robot tells you you're too fat

OH MIT NO: I don't know how I missed this when it made its splash back in January; maybe I was, oh, you know, spending too much time on Planet Sanity. But MIT Media Lab has unveiled its newest gee-whiz product: the Autom, a robot that tells you you're too fat.  

That's right. It's a robot. That tells you you're fat. Because clearly, fat people don't hear that enough. Well, according to the Autom's creators, the problem isn't that there aren't enough people telling you you're fat; the problem is that you don't pay attention to them, because they aren't robots.

"Our earlier results in controlled Human-Robot Interaction studies have shown that a robot can be seen as more credible and informative than a character on the screen. Hence, there is reason to believe that a robot may be a more effective mechanism for conveying the behavior change message," Autom's website reads.

So, if it's a robot telling you to drop a few pounds, you'll listen, because everyone knows robots are always right.

It's like a Clocky, the cute alarm clock that runs away from you, only evil and shaming. What's next, a Roomba that tells you you're a flithy slob?  Oh yeah -- the best part is that the Autom is a girl robot, because, I guess, women (the presumed target market for weightloss products) are already used to being criticized by other women.

#Fail