The Baymax doc

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The Baymax doc

A robot just for you

The case for a personal, computerized wellness champion.

Rachel Ding

In 2014, the team at Pixar released a special project that ended up becoming the no.1 animated film worldwide that year. The film,

Big Hero 6⁠

, follows the adventures of a boy named Hiro and his personal healthcare companion: a giant marshmallow-looking robot named Baymax. Baymax was invented by Hiro’s late brother Tadashi, at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, and was programmed to take care of his health needs.

⁠

Something about this film still resonates deeply with people everywhere. The first time I watched the movie, I personally wished I had my own Baymax to accompany me through life. A friend of mine even named her dog Baymax. This fictional robot was so well-received since he was introduced 8 years ago, that Disney is actually releasing a new TV series called

Baymax!⁠

this summer.

As an homage to our inflatable friend, and the team that created him, I wanted to create a make-believe doc that would allow anyone to experience what it might be like to have their own personal healthcare companion, wellness champion or robotic nurse. Here’s why.

The disintegration of health

Over the last decade, we’ve seen an unprecedented rise in chronic illness,

mental illness⁠

and social isolation. The pandemic alone has likely placed new levels of stress on you - your body, mind, heart, or all of the above.

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain?

– Baymax

Many have been operating in what

Tony Schwartz⁠

(CEO of The Energy Project) has coined the Survival and Burnout Zones, rather than fluctuating between the healthy zones of Performance and Renewal.

Types of Energy

Types of Energy

High

Low

Positive

⚡️ Performance Zone

🔋 Renewal Zone

Negative

⛺️ Survival Zone

🔥 Burnout Zone

⁠

(For more details on each quadrant, head over to

Energy Zones⁠

A keystone life skill

Young people especially are experiencing new levels of anxiety and depression. This year,

1 in 6⁠

youth aged 6-17, or roughly 7.7 million youth in the U.S., will experience a mental health disorder. And of these, just 1 in 2 will end up receiving treatment.

At the same time that demands on our energy continue to exceed our capacity, health care costs continue to be a barrier for many, especially considering COVID’s economic impact on households everywhere.

So how do we overcome all this?

One way to equip ourselves for life’s never-ending stream of stressors is to learn the skill of self-regulation: the ability to observe your own physical, mental or emotional state, and skillfully restore balance. It’s an inside-out approach to health, that may not cure disease, but can help to prevent or delay its onset, and act as a keystone skill that unlocks your health potential.

And a robot that cares for you

This doc, inspired by Baymax’s role in Big Hero 6, was created to help anyone develop the skill of self-regulation in an effort to prevent ill-health and cultivate holistic wellbeing.

In short, Baymax will encourage you to log sentiments about your wellbeing regularly. Then he’ll scan your sentiment data and guide you to integrate wellness strategies and social support into your everyday lifestyle that correspond to your needs.

This doc can help you self-regulate:

Energy & Mood

School/Work-Life balance

Holistic Wellbeing

...all while saving you:

Coordination

Willpower

Money (It’s free!)

The theory behind this doc’s operating system is depicted by a flywheel, where one cycles through self-awareness, tools and behavior change. This flywheel corresponds to the doc’s design:

System Theory

⁠

System Design

⁠

⁠

Your Sentiments⁠

and

Your Scans⁠

help you cultivate self-awareness, which helps you choose the right tools for wellness (

Your Strategies⁠

and

Your Squad⁠

). The behavior change that ensues helps you develop the skill of Self-Regulation. And so spins the flywheel!

Ultimately, this doc is here to help you turn healthy living, which can sometimes feel like a complicated chore, into a simple task that feels like play. I hope you have fun here, and may you be satisfied with his care!

⁠

Clone this Baymax

⁠

Fair use. Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statutes that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended.

Health Disclaimer

The information and other content provided in this blog, or in any linked materials, are not intended and should not be construed as medical advice, nor is the information a substitute for professional medical expertise or treatment. If you or any other person has a medical concern, you should consult with your health care provider or seek other professional medical treatment.

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