An alumnus of the class of 2008 writes, "Autom™ is a coach designed to help people who are trying to lose and keep off weight. Autom™ helps by encouraging a person to stick with their diet for long enough to create long-term change and keep extra pounds off. "The first set of prototypes for this robot was built in the Media Lab. They were used in a controlled study in the Boston area that showed the efficacy of the system. After that, a company, Intuitive Automata, was founded based on the work and a commercial version of the robot is being built."