Squeeker: The Mouse Coach

Run with Squeeker - a running program, app, and interactive installation.

Run with The Mouse Coach to earn scroll distance on social media and treats for your coach. Match mouse coach’s daily half-marathon, one paw at a time! 

Squeeker is an App, an interactive installation, and a running program.

Mice have been used extensively in scientific research. Every year hundreds of millions of mice get fat or depressed, some glow in the dark — all in the name of understanding ourselves, humans’ health better. What if we switch the dynamic and let the mouse control our health?

With Squeeker’s smart running wheel, whenever the mouse coach starts running, you will receive a notification to prompt you to run. If you run and your running distance matches the mouse’s distance, you both get a reward. The mouse gets a treat or toy. You get to scroll on social media, with the scroll distance the same as your running distance.

This approach leverages the habit loop theory, where cue, action, and reward are essential to forming healthy habits. The cue is the mouse running. The action is you run. The reward is the mouse gets a treat and you receive the dopamine from social media.

The app “Squeeker: The Mouse Coach” is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, free for everybody to download and engage in a healthy lifestyle. 

Mice run around 4-20 km per day. It’s a half-marathon! To testify the mouse coach’s training on me, I successfully ran the Austin half-marathon on Feb 18, 2024. I was surprised by how effective their training could be, beating AI Coach and Human Coach! The last time I ran a marathon was 9 years ago and I haven’t been able to get back to running until the mouse coach appeared. 

At its premiere at IDFA Doclab, people can run on the treadmill at the interactive installation. The speed of the treadmill is controlled by the mouse. If the collective running distance surpasses the mouse’s running distance of the day, we open a champagne in the evening. I also organized running events at the Vondelpark Pavillion and around the world. Many strangers on the street joined the run and formed communities.

To testify the mouse’s training on me, I successfully ran the Austin half-marathon on Feb 18 2024!

You’ve heard of a running coach, someone to keep your motivation high. Now, imagine this: what if the coach is a mouse? Inspired by her pet mice and the use of mice in labs, artist and technologist Jiabao Li created Squeeker: The Mouse Coach. It’s a running program, app, and interactive installation—Squeeker invites participants to run and to contemplate. How layered can the relationship among animals, humans, scientific research and everyday technology be? 

To take part in the installation, you run on a treadmill. A digital mouse, running on a spinning wheel leads your running speed. If the participants’ accumulative running distance matches the mouse’s daily half-marathon, we will open a champagne in the evening. 

Scan the QR code to follow Squeeker on your phone. Then, every time her mouse takes off a spirited run, you’ll get a notification and, perhaps, a jolt of inspiration to run together. Each mile you run earns you a mile to scroll on social media and a treat for your coach. Cue, Action, Reward, one paw at a time!

Squeeker is not just an application; it's a playful yet profound commentary on several layered themes: the ethical use of animals in scientific research, our relationship with non-human species, the transformation of behavior, and the pervasive influence of social media's attention economy.

Redefining Control in the Digital Age: In an era dominated by AI and algorithms, where apps dictate our daily routines - from waking up to scrolling endlessly for dopamine hits - Squeeker introduces a thought-provoking reversal. It draws inspiration from the very foundation of the attention economy: the reward systems studied in mice. Imagine a world where the roles are inverted, where the humble mouse becomes the master, guiding our health and habits. This is the world Squeeker creates.

From Personal Challenge to Global Movement: Initially conceived as a personal challenge to match a mouse's daily running distance, Squeeker has evolved into something far greater. The project transformed my own fitness routine, leading me to run a half-marathon daily, and its contagious appeal led to its expansion into a community-centric app available on the App Store. Squeeker transcends traditional fitness paradigms; it's about collective journeys, shared stories, and forming enduring bonds and healthier habits through communal running events across the globe.

Beyond Fitness: A Platform for Discussion and Change: As participants run alongside their mouse coach, conversations naturally veer towards deeper topics like animal welfare and the manipulative nature of the attention economy. The physical dopamine rush from running provides a healthy alternative to the artificial highs of social media, encouraging a reduction in screen time and fostering genuine, in-person connections.

Challenging Perceptions and Celebrating Mice: Historically, mice have been marginalized and stereotyped, their lives considered inconsequential in the grand scheme of scientific research. Squeeker challenges these preconceptions, showcasing the remarkable capabilities of these small creatures. Through live streams of the mouse coach, users gain a newfound appreciation for the intelligence and resilience of mice, prompting a shift in perspective and self-reflection.

Squeeker stands as a revolutionary fitness platform, a harmonious blend of companionship and technology, crafted to inspire movement, health, and well-being, all under the unexpected guidance of a mouse. It reimagines habit formation and redefines accountability. Squeeker is more than just a call to run; it's an invitation to rethink, engage, and connect. Run quicker, live healthier, think deeper - with Squeeker.