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PUML Incentivizes Fitness Rewards with EOSIO

PUML Better Health is a new application built on EOSIO and available on iOS and Android, that promotes health and wellness. An EOS VC grant recipient, PUML rewards users with gamified incentive programs where they retain custodianship of their personal health data. 

Founder and Co-CEO of PUML, Damien King knows exactly how important it is to take an active role in health and fitness. A 20-year software engineering veteran, he began to feel the strain after long days at Virgin Media coupled with nights spent developing his first successful startup. “That’s where I started to realize,” Damien relates, “that it’s hard to be motivated and find the time to be healthy, and how important health is.”

The realization inspired him to take a closer look at how he could motivate people to take charge of both their personal fitness and personal data. He knew that getting people healthy was only half of the equation; he also needed to educate them on the importance of health seriously at a younger age, when healthy habits are more likely to stick.

Using EOSIO to Incentivize Health and Wellness

To build PUML as a blockchain application, Damien knew he would need reliable transaction finality and throughput. No stranger to the ecosystem, he had been mining cryptocurrencies back in 2012 and paid close attention as platforms continued to develop. After Damien met a finalist of the EOSIO Hackathon, he started researching and developing on EOSIO and finally determined the software to be superior for his purposes. Before long, he made the decision to halt PUML’s rewards program on the ERC-20 standard and move to EOSIO. “For application developers like us, we need something that everyone can use, that’s fast and responsive. We honestly think EOSIO is the best solution for us and we’re fully committed to it.”

PUML encourages people to make behavioral changes that benefit long-term health. The application pairs with wearables, including FITBIT and GARMIN, to allow participants to engage in fitness-related competitions such as step challenges. PUML also rewards users for watching educational health, fitness and wellbeing videos featuring workout routines, breathing exercises, and other healthy activities.

There are a wide range of PUML challenges designed to keep people active without overwhelming them. By meeting the conditions of the challenges, participants can earn tokens. “For the month of June you have to reach 300,000 steps as an average to receive some tokens,” says Damien. “And so that’s a great incentive to keep your daily activity up and it gives you time to sort of catch up if you fall behind.”

PUML also supports cooperative challenges, including the current 10 million step challenge, sponsored by PERKii, a probiotic energy drink developed by the University of Queensland.

Although PUML is in the early stages of development, the beta app, recently released on iOS and Android in Australia, is already integrated with the EOS public blockchain. A node, run by PUML, connects their application server to the blockchain. PUML token rewards are stored in an EOS wallet built into the app natively. The most recent version of the app has a social element that permits users to send one another messages of encouragement.

Integrating with gyms, PUML offers rewards to members when they regularly use the app to check by scanning a QR code to access their private challenges.

“With the gym, if you’re a new user to the gym, then one of our challenges is you need to check in 3 times a week for the first 3 weeks and that creates that healthy behavior. The gym is happy because they’re getting a more engaged user who is likely to have a longer lifetime value.”

For corporate clients, PUML provides activity programs that engage employees and promote a culture of wellness through friendly competition. “So if you’re on a corporate wellness plan, you scan the code, and then you see your work challenges, your work redemptions, your marketplace. We can gamify these challenges where we have leaderboards and real rewards. So, for instance, we can have the Accounts department versus the IT department.”

The Team Behind PUML

The dynamic team building PUML comprises experts from a wide range of fields:

PUML Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and CTO, Damien King.

Damien King

A 20-year veteran technologist, Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and CTO Damien King is a startup specialist with former experience at Corporates such as Virgin Media, BBC, BT, and as a founder of BeeLiked Limited and Adaptive Media.

PUML Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and COO, Adam Samuel.

Adam Samuel

Heading the team’s operations and marketing arm, Co-Founder, Co-CEO, and COO Adam Samuel is a serial entrepreneur who previously worked at Nortel Networks.

PUML Non Executive Director, Investment Banker, and Angel Investor, Richard Moore.

Richard Moore 

Richard Moore serves as PUML’s Non-Executive Director, Investment Banker, and Angel Investor, and is an Australian startup specialist.

PUML Futurist and Blockchain Advisor for Exponential Technology and AI, Dr. Clarence Tan.

Dr. Clarence Tan

As PUML’s Futurist and Blockchain Advisor for Exponential Technology and AI, Dr. Clarence Tan has former experience as the Inaugural Asia Pacific Ambassador of Singularity University at NASA Ames Research Park, and served as a Professor at Bond University and Griffith University.

What Lies in Store for PUML?

PUML developers are currently using the EOSIO SDK for Java to enhance the Android version of the app to have its own wallet.

PUML intends to build a health records system for their user base, for which they plan to deploy an EOSIO sidechain to address any privacy concerns. Ultimately the application will help users play a role in determining their wellness by means of predictive algorithms designed to analyze their data and aid in the diagnosis of health issues.

In the future the PUML team is also looking to add a number of elements to the application, such as a feature that would allow a participant to earn interest by completing challenges or risk forfeiting their stake if they don’t meet the challenge criteria, a system termed Return on Activity (ROA).

PUML’s upcoming integration with Strava will incorporate running and cycling data of their users into their blockchain-based rewards programs. Ultimately, Damien says that PUML will eventually release its own device for users, “where we’re getting data from the wearable straight into our system, which would go straight into our blockchain, so you could actually avoid it touching any other third parties in the future.”

In Damien’s vision, PUML will become the global custodians for health and fitness data. “We want to be the number one rewards app so that whatever gym you go to, or whatever class you do, you’re always getting our token. So it can be used and redeemed across all sorts of retail and fitness centers and corporate wellness providers. There is no global fitness currency or rewards system right now, so that’s where we’d love to be.”

Improve your health and your wealth with PUML.

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