Coached Yoga: Bridging the Gap between Video and Human Instructors with Low-Cost Social Robotics

Matthias von Rakowski; Antoine Esman; Méa Vittot; Kimia Nazari; Christian Dondrup; Shenando Stals

doi:10.1145/3776734.3794603

Coached Yoga: Bridging the Gap between Video and Human Instructors with Low-Cost Social Robotics

Matthias von Rakowski
, Antoine Esman
, Méa Vittot
, Kimia Nazari
, Christian Dondrup
, Shenando Stals

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

With distractions and sedentary habits, maintaining focus and healthy routines is increasingly challenging. While video tutorials are accessible, they lack engagement and personalised feedback. In contrast, professional human coaching is effective but costly and difficult to schedule.

To bridge this gap, we introduce "Marty". As a low-cost social robot, it combines the convenience of home practice with the responsive support of an embodied coach. Using computer vision, it leads yoga sessions, demonstrates poses, and provides real-time corrective feedback.

By offering accessible and adaptive guidance, this system aims to interrupt sedentary patterns and empower users to build sustainable wellness habits.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	1233-1236
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Print)	9798400723216
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3776734.3794603
Publication status	Published - 16 Mar 2026

Keywords

Embodied coaching
Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
Socially Assistive Robotics (SAR)
Wellness and relaxation
Yoga guidance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Artificial Intelligence
Human-Computer Interaction

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10.1145/3776734.3794603Licence: CC BY

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von Rakowski, M., Esman, A., Vittot, M., Nazari, K., Dondrup, C., & Stals, S. (2026). Coached Yoga: Bridging the Gap between Video and Human Instructors with Low-Cost Social Robotics. In Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (pp. 1233-1236). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3776734.3794603

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Coached Yoga: Bridging the Gap between Video and Human Instructors with Low-Cost Social Robotics. / von Rakowski, Matthias; Esman, Antoine; Vittot, Méa et al.
Companion Proceedings of the 21st ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. p. 1233-1236.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Coached Yoga: Bridging the Gap between Video and Human Instructors with Low-Cost Social Robotics

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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