Computer Science Research Team Wins Best Search UX Award for Fitness Tracker Chatbot
A BU Metropolitan College Department of Computer Science research team won a prestigious award for an innovative project that gives people new means to draw the most out of the data collected by the fitness trackers they wear—a search engine-powered chatbot conversational agent.
Similar to other emerging forms of large language model artificial intelligence-powered communicative tools, like OpenAI’s ChatGBT, with ODSearch, you can ask your wearable or mobile fitness tracker questions in natural, plain language and receive answers in that same natural language.
The new tool is the product of research conducted by BU MET Computer Science Assistant Professor Reza Rawassizadeh and Master of Science in Computer Science alum Yi Rong (MET’22). It was recognized by the British Computing Society’s Information Retrieval Specialist Group in the 2022 Search Industry Awards, taking home the crown for “Best Search User Experience.”
Today, average people are expected to understand what their wearable technology is telling them about their exercise and metabolism by deciphering fitness data presented through numbers, graphs, and charts. But some people process visual information differently than others, some might need help managing mathematics, and the benefits the technology offer are reliant upon imparting the clearest possible understanding of what the collected data means for users.
Devices like the smartwatch have limited capacities to process and present information. Instead of the current UX model of these devices, which communicates health data primarily through graphs and numbers, Rawassizadeh and Rong’s new approach helps wearers to learn about what’s happening in their bodies through an interface that allows them to ask direct questions and get direct answers, as ODSearch sifts through and processes vast quantities of data in close to real-time.
Visit the Department of Computer Science website to learn more regarding Dr. Rawassizadeh and Computer Science master’s alum Yi Rong’s proud BU MET achievement.