computer science

Kurbo

Kurbo is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Kurbo rather than just read about it. In short: Kurbo is a digital therapeutics program focused on sustainable healthy eating for children and teenagers. The program tracks and manages nutrition, exercise and weight of adolescents.

Key takeaways

Kurbo belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Kurbo to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Kurbo from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Kurbo is a digital therapeutics program focused on sustainable healthy eating for children and teenagers. The program tracks and manages nutrition, exercise and weight of adolescents. It operates through a mobile application and a website, providing health coaching from weight loss and behavior change professionals to tackle childhood obesity. Kurbo was acquired by WW International (formerly Weight Watchers) in August 2019 and the Kurbo app was launched by Weight Watchers (WW International) in December 2020.

History Kurbo Health was founded in July 2013 in Palo Alto, California by Joanna Strober, Mark Vershel and Thea Runyan. The program is based on research on pediatric weight control and is licensed from Stanford University Lucile Packard Children's Hospital pediatric obesity program. It is known for its traffic light food classification system and portion sizing design. The app was first launched at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2014. Kurbo was acquired by Weight Watchers in 2018 for a reported $3 million. The company spent time further developing the app before rebranding and releasing Kurbo by WW in December 2020.

Functionality Kurbo is designed to teach children how to manage their eating habits in an educational manner. It provides a single set of APIs for the mobile application and online program to track and access activity data of the users. It is accompanied by interaction with a health and behavioral coach who provide personalized suggestions, feedback and encouragement to the users.

Studies and feedback A pilot program in 2014 demonstrated that Kurbo improved engagement and helped children reduce their BMI percentile. The Journal of Medical Internet Research published a study in 2019 on Impact of a Mobile App-Based Health Coaching and Behavior Change Program on Participant Engagement and Weight Status of Overweight and Obese Children. This study analyzed the effectiveness of Kurbo's program and inferred that increased coaching sessions led to increased BMI reduction. A New York Times article by dietician Christy Harrison and a statement by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) opposed the use of the app raising concern over children's diet and psychological implications.

Controversy In March 2022, the Federal Trade Commission filed a complaint against Kurbo, alleging that Weight Watchers and Kurbo violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA) when they collected the personal information of children using the app without parental consent. Kurbo was ordered to delete all information collected from children under 13, destroy any algorithms created with this data, and pay a penalty of $1.5 million.

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kurbo

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kurbo claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Kurbo before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Kurbo ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Kurbo

In research: Kurbo appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Kurbo in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Kurbo is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2013 establishments in the United States, Companies based in Palo Alto, California, Health software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kurbo outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Kurbo in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kurbo means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Kurbo out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kurbo in simple terms?

Kurbo is a digital therapeutics program focused on sustainable healthy eating for children and teenagers. The program tracks and manages nutrition, exercise and weight of adolescents.

Why does Kurbo matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Kurbo?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Kurbo.