Carnegie Mellon PhD Student Presents 'Tamagotchi-style' AI Agents That Give Everyday Objects Emotions to Nudge Habits

Daehwa Kim, a fifth-year PhD student in the Future Interfaces Group at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, recently presented a project called OATs (Object Agent Twins) at the ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST). The project aims to attach AI avatars to everyday physical objects, such as plants, skateboards, or dumbbells, using micro electronic ink (E Ink) displays and sensors, giving them expressive personalities to gently nudge users toward better habits.

The core hardware module of OATs costs approximately $20 and integrates sensors for humidity, temperature, light, motion, and occupancy. The system uses Google Gemini's Nano Banana image generation service to create sprite images for various emotional states. When specific conditions are detected, such as dry soil in a plant or a skateboard that hasn't moved for days, the AI avatar on the screen displays sadness or loneliness; when the user takes action (like watering or exercising), the avatar becomes happy. This design leverages human empathy towards anthropomorphized objects, attempting to provide behavioral prompts without relying on smartphone screens.

In her demonstrations, Kim found that users primarily utilized OATs in three scenarios: confirming if a device is being used (like a coffee machine), warning nearby people of potential dangers (such as toxic fumes from a 3D printer), and tracking personal habits (like fitness frequency). Although the prototype has short battery life (about 3 to 4 days, dropping to 1 day if the sound sensor is active) and is not yet commercialized, it received two Honorable Mention awards at UIST, indicating academic interest in this combination of ambient computing and behavioral intervention.