Get Back to Work!
Procrastinating at your computer? This digital boss gadget uses a Raspberry Pi and hidden camera to stare you down until you regain focus.
If your job involves working at a computer, then you know the likelihood of your staying focused all day is about the same as a child getting all their schoolwork done at the playground. There are just too many distractions — social media, email, YouTube videos, and chasing internet rabbit holes. Sure, you can grit your teeth and swear off these distractions once and for all. But without fail, you’ll find yourself laughing at cat memes before the hour is up. So what can be done?
YouTuber Enrique Neyra thinks the answer is a digital boss that never turns its gaze from you, like your own personal Eye of Sauron. One wrong move and you’ll be met with an angry glare. If that’s not enough to get you back on track, then the look turns to sad puppy eyes. So much wasted potential! I only want what’s best for you, after all!
Neyra’s gadget is designed to sit on your desk in front of you. It comes equipped with a Waveshare OLED display to give it animated eyes, and a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W to handle all of the processing. An Arducam camera module keeps watch over you to see if you are staying focused. The hardware is enclosed in a small 3D-printed case.
To make the device work, Neyra used OpenCV to run an algorithm that detects the face and eyes. If both eyes are visible, the system considers the user to be looking forward, at their monitor, staying on task. Ideally, an eye tracking algorithm would have been used for this purpose, but they proved to be more than a Pi Zero 2 W could handle. Depending on what this algorithm detects, the script updates the state of the eyes.
If you don’t have enough bosses in your life, then you're in luck. Neyra has posted build instructions, source code, and 3D design files to a GitHub repository.