Rishabh Jain's Calm Pulse Turns an Espressif ESP32-C6 Into a Guided Breathing Exercise Gadget

Maker Rishabh Jain, also known as "Mr_Electronaut," has designed a compact gadget that aims to ease anxiety and calm your breathing — by walking you through a guided breathing exercise via glowing LEDs and tactile vibrations.

"I've always felt nervous in situations like public speaking, presenting ideas in office meetings, or trying adventurous activities," Jain explains of the inspiration behind the Calm Pulse. "In those moments, my heart starts racing and my breathing becomes fast and shallow, making it difficult to stay calm and focused. Many breathing techniques are known to reduce anxiety, but during stressful moments it can be hard to remember the rhythm or stay focused long enough to follow them. This inspired me to create Calm Pulse — an Anxiety & Stress Reliever device. Using gentle light patterns and vibration, the device guides the user’s breathing rhythm and helps bring the body back to a calm and balanced state."

The pocket-friendly gadget is built around a Seeed Studio XIAO ESP32-C6, one of a growing family of compact breadboard-friendly development boards. This particular variant features Espressif's ESP32-C6 mcirocontroller, though its wireless connectivity goes unused here — it's simple there to read the input from a push-button switch and trigger one of three guided breathing exercises.

Once triggered, the chosen guided breathing exercise — a four-second in, four-second hold, six-second out pattern for relaxation, four-four-four for focus, or three-three-four for "panic mode" designed to calm you down from heightened anxiety — plays out on an eight-count RGB LED ring, with a vibration motor adding further feedback even when the user's eyes are closed. Power comes courtesy of a small lithium-polymer pillow battery, with everything squeezed into a small plastic case with a hole cut out for the switch.

"Building this device was a meaningful project that combines technology with a simple yet powerful idea: helping people regain calm through guided breathing," Jain says. "By using synchronized light patterns and gentle vibration feedback, the device provides an intuitive way to slow down breathing and manage stress or anxiety in everyday situations."

The project is documented in full, including source code and a wiring diagram, on Instructables.