Virtual coach designed to help smokers quit

If you’ve tried to give up smoking but don’t have the willpower or are too embarrassed to seek help, Dutch researchers may have the answer.

They are developing a virtual coach to provide smokers with round-the-clock reinforcement to help them kick the habit.

“Shrouded in the anonymity provided by the Internet, smokers can log on to a Web site and type questions and confessions into a chat box,” New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

The virtual coach, being designed by Betsy van Dijk and researchers at the University of Twente in Enschede and the Dutch anti-smoking group Stivoro, will give advice and encouragement at all hours.

The concept has already been used successfully in the United States to encourage elderly people to exercise more, according to the magazine.

The female auto-responder will be programmed to have human characteristics and will respond with answers and facial expressions used by Stivoro’s human counsellors.

If the virtual coach proves a success, the researchers may extend it to help alcoholics and people trying to overcome phobias.

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