HealthPet: Harnessing the Power of Virtual Pets to Motivate Exercise and Promote Active Lifestyles

Abstract

In light of the recent pandemic and the increasingly online lifestyles of general people, the need to maintain an active lifestyle is becoming more important to consider as “more than a quarter of all adults [are] not getting enough physical activity. This puts more than 1•4 billion adults at risk of developing or exacerbating diseases linked to inactivity”[1]. HealthPet seeks to help tackle the issue by providing a place where users can earn and interact with virtual pets based on how active they are throughout the day. By using Unity and Firebase alongside native code, we are able to put together a package that provides a goal and incentive while also being able to preserve and maintain a user's progress on their path toward a healthier day.