BreakSense is a mobile application that uses a Bluetooth beacon infrastructure, a smartphone and a smartwatch to encourage mobility during breaks with a game-like design.

Improving wellbeing and productivity in the workplace are important goals for both individuals and employers. Getting adequate physical activity can reduce an individual’s risk of developing chronic conditions and lower healthcare costs for employers. We investigate how technology can promote short physical work breaks for two purposes: 1) encouraging physical movement, and 2) packaging the physical break into an activity that takes the worker’s mind away from their work.

We designed and built BreakSense, a mobile/wearable application that detects when a worker leaves their work area and proposes short indoor-location-based challenges to increase physical activity without interrupting work. BreakSense uses Bluetooth beacons embedded in the environment to enable playful interactions at specific locations inside the workplace. We conducted a short deployment of BreakSense within FXPAL that examined bound vs. unbound augmented breaks and how they affect users’ sense of completion and readiness to work.