AI-Personalized Digital Exercise for University Students (AIPDEUS)

September 12, 2026 updated by: Transilvania University of Brasov

Effects of an AI-Personalized Digital Exercise Programme on Adherence, Physical Activity, and Wellbeing Among University Students: An 8-Week Randomized Controlled Trial

This study evaluated whether an AI-personalized digital exercise programme could improve exercise adherence, physical activity, wellbeing, and physical performance among university students compared with a standardized digital exercise programme. University students were randomly assigned to one of two digital exercise programmes for 8 weeks. The AI-personalized programme adjusted exercise recommendations using participant characteristics, previous exercise adherence, readiness, pain, safety information, and physical performance measures. The comparator provided a standardized digital exercise programme without adaptive weekly personalization. The primary outcome was mean weekly exercise adherence. Secondary outcomes included physical activity, wellbeing, countermovement jump performance, lower-limb reaction time, engagement, usability, and safety.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

This was an 8-week, two-group randomized controlled trial conducted among undergraduate students at Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania. The study compared an AI-personalized digital exercise programme with a standardized digital exercise programme delivered within the same digital study environment.

Participants assigned to the AI-personalized group received exercise recommendations through MoveAI-Student version 2.1.0 using the version-controlled v1.3-adaptive system. The system combined prespecified safety rules with a supervised recommendation model. Personalization used participant characteristics, sport participation, weekly training volume, countermovement jump performance, simple and choice reaction time, readiness, pain, previous-week adherence, and safety information. Exercise recommendations could specify session frequency, duration, intensity, and additional emphasis on lower-limb power or reactive drills. Recommendations were updated once per intervention week. Progression was limited by predefined safety rules, and exercise load could be reduced when pain or an adverse-event flag was present. Human override of recommendations was permitted when required.

Participants assigned to the standardized digital comparator used the same digital study environment but did not receive the adaptive weekly prescription procedure. The comparator programme prescribed three exercise sessions per week, with each session lasting 35 minutes.

The primary outcome was mean weekly exercise adherence, calculated from completed sessions relative to prescribed sessions across the 8-week intervention. Secondary outcomes included total physical activity assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form, WHO-5 wellbeing, countermovement jump performance, simple reaction time, choice reaction time, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, application engagement, satisfaction, perceived usefulness, usability, sitting time, body weight, body mass index, and adverse events.

The study was designed to estimate the effect of the adaptive programme as a complete intervention compared with standardized digital exercise. It was not designed to isolate the independent effect of the algorithm from differences in exercise prescription or completed exercise exposure.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

299

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Brașov County
      • Brasov, Brașov County, Romania, 500036
        • Transilvania University of Brașov

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Undergraduate student currently enrolled at Transilvania University of Brașov. Age 18 to 65 years at baseline. Written informed consent provided before any study-specific procedure. Able to safely complete the standardized countermovement jump protocol using OptoJump.

Able to safely complete the lower-limb simple and choice reaction-time protocols using BlazePod.

Access to a smartphone compatible with the study application. Willing to use the study application throughout the 8-week intervention. Able to attend both baseline and post-intervention assessments.

Exclusion Criteria:

Acute musculoskeletal injury or pain that made jumping or rapid lower-limb responses unsafe.

Medical condition contraindicating exercise participation or study testing. Use of medication known to affect neuromuscular performance or reaction time, as defined in the approved protocol.

Concurrent participation in another interventional exercise or digital-health trial.

Inability or unwillingness to complete the required assessments or the 8-week digital intervention.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: AI-Personalized Digital Exercise Programme
Participants received an 8-week digital exercise programme delivered through MoveAI-Student version 2.1.0. Exercise prescriptions were personalized using the v1.3-adaptive system and updated weekly based on participant characteristics, previous-week adherence, readiness, pain, safety information, and physical performance measures. Recommendations could modify exercise frequency, duration, intensity, and task emphasis.
An 8-week digital exercise intervention using MoveAI-Student version 2.1.0 and the v1.3-adaptive system. Initial exercise prescriptions ranged from three to five sessions per week, 30 to 45 minutes per session, at moderate-to-vigorous intensity. Recommendations were updated weekly using adherence and safety information. Prescriptions could modify session frequency, duration, intensity, and emphasis on lower-limb power or reactive drills. Predefined safety rules limited weekly progression and allowed reduced exercise load when pain or an adverse-event flag was present.
Active Comparator: Standardized Digital Exercise Programme
Participants received an 8-week standardized digital exercise programme through the same study application. The programme prescribed three exercise sessions per week, with each session lasting 35 minutes. Participants did not receive the adaptive weekly personalization procedure used in the experimental group.
An 8-week standardized digital exercise intervention delivered through the same study application. Participants were prescribed three exercise sessions per week, with each session lasting 35 minutes. The programme did not use the adaptive weekly prescription procedure applied in the AI-personalized group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Mean Weekly Exercise Adherence
Time Frame: From intervention initiation through the end of Week 8
Weekly adherence was calculated as completed exercise sessions relative to prescribed exercise sessions within each intervention week. The participant-level mean across the 8-week intervention was used as the primary outcome.
From intervention initiation through the end of Week 8

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Total Physical Activity
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Total physical activity was assessed using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form (IPAQ-SF) and expressed as MET-minutes per week.
Baseline and at the end of Week 8
WHO-5 Well-Being Score
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Wellbeing was assessed using the WHO-5 Well-Being Index.
Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Countermovement Jump Best Height
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Best countermovement jump height was assessed using OptoJump Next and expressed in centimeters.
Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Countermovement Jump Mean Height
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Mean countermovement jump height was assessed using OptoJump Next and expressed in centimeters.
Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Simple Reaction Time
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Description: Lower-limb simple reaction time was assessed using BlazePod and expressed in milliseconds.
Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Choice Reaction Time
Time Frame: Baseline and at the end of Week 8
Lower-limb choice reaction time was assessed using BlazePod and expressed in milliseconds.
Baseline and at the end of Week 8

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 24, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 21, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

March 21, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 12, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

September 17, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

September 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 12, 2026

Last Verified

September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

Deidentified individual participant data underlying the results reported in the published article will be available upon reasonable request. Shared data may include baseline characteristics, exercise adherence, physical activity, WHO-5 wellbeing, countermovement jump outcomes, simple and choice reaction time, engagement and usability measures, and adverse-event data, as applicable.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Beginning 3 months after publication of the study results and available for 5 years.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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