Flip for Focus: The Cyber Smart Clock V2
The Cyber Smart Clock V2 is a DIY brass-frame cube with air quality sensing and a flip-to-start Pomodoro timer for your desk.
It seems like everyone is building a little desktop companion robot these days. For the most part, these are cute little gadgets that are primarily intended to entertain their users. But petting a little robot and watching it dance will only be entertaining for just so long. If we’re going to go to all the trouble of building something, why not make it more useful? Then we can enjoy using it for a long time to come.
If that resonates with you, then you might be interested in Huy Vector’s latest creation: The Cyber Smart Clock V2. This little cube only costs a few dollars to build, but it includes a clock, a mini air quality monitor, and a Pomodoro timer to help keep you focused. It would look great sitting on a desk, and it has a unique user interface that makes it fun to interact with.
The hardware build is really simple. It consists of a Waveshare ESP32-C6 1.3-inch LCD Display Development Board. As the name implies, the board comes equipped with a small display. Vector also wired in a gyroscope sensor, an air quality sensing module, and a piezo buzzer. Power is supplied via a 14250 3.7V battery that can be recharged via USB using a battery charging module. The hardware is installed in an open frame that was handmade from brass tubes.
When powered up, the device displays the current time and a number of air quality metrics to ensure that you aren’t breathing in any nasty stuff while you are hard at work. When you need some dedicated focus time, simply flipping the Cyber Smart Clock on its side starts a Pomodoro timer that beeps when the allotted time expires.
The bill of materials, source code, and circuit diagram have all been made publicly available. Go grab everything if you’d like to hack together your own Cyber Smart Clock this weekend.
R&D, creativity, and building the next big thing you never knew you wanted are my specialties.