The SWELL project aimed to keep employees happy and healthy in the workplace, increasing productivity and stimulating general well-being. This involved reducing both mental and physical stress and stimulating well-being and ‘well-working’. The project partners proposed to increase well-being by monitoring an individual’s activities and health status, and coaching them in order to stimulate healthy and productive behaviour. The project specifically targeted (nomadic) knowledge workers, which means that their working environment can be either in the office, at home, or anywhere else.

The activities monitored ranged from physical activities such as moving around and deep concentration, to patterns of information access for working, personal, or entertainment purposes. Monitoring is achieved using advanced sensing and reasoning techniques. The collected information is used to provide users with feedback and suggestions to avoid both physical and mental stress. This functionality is implemented as an unobtrusive coach or assistant that is tailored to the context and personality of the individual user.