Hello
I am Sambhav, currently i am a student and a developer too, few years back when i saw myself and my friends struggling to focus (most of them were preparing for competitive exams, myself included) i saw 2 things, we were all trying some sort of productivity app but it just didnt work, later i figured out that all productivity apps are inside my phone, the distraction device itself, i also noticed that i would study better if there was some external accountability (like my mom asking about studies or results vs no one really noticing)
Then i went down a rabbit hole figuring out productivity stuff, like everything about it, the research, the psychology, why focus breaks and all that, for about a year i spent my spare time thinking about this and trying to build something that would genuinely increase my study time, i came up with a physical device
So, this device just sits on the desk, no notifications, no feeds, nothing else to do on it, just focus , now it obviously has the basic things like timers (pomodoro/countdown), ambient sounds, simple tasks, etc but then there's my twist, there is a feature where you press a button and say whatever doubt you have and get a precise answer, it could be anything study related, basically quick answers without opening a browser (this was important because that’s where i usually fell into rabbit holes)
there is also a study together feature, its more like commitment, no one can just quit otherwise it affects everyone, and there is voting for breaks too
then we have a progress tracker, i’ve iterated on it a lot so i think its actually pretty solid
there is also an optional system which learns your study pattern over time
a smarter alarm for study sessions (not like a normal alarm)
leaderboard and study rooms
(I really like this one)- optional health system for things like eye breaks (20-20-20), hydration, and posture
On the hardware side its running on a pi zero 2w in kiosk mode so it just boots straight into it and there’s no real escape into other things
Show HN: I built a physical device because productivity apps failed me · HackerTrans
Then i went down a rabbit hole figuring out productivity stuff, like everything about it, the research, the psychology, why focus breaks and all that, for about a year i spent my spare time thinking about this and trying to build something that would genuinely increase my study time, i came up with a physical device
So, this device just sits on the desk, no notifications, no feeds, nothing else to do on it, just focus , now it obviously has the basic things like timers (pomodoro/countdown), ambient sounds, simple tasks, etc but then there's my twist, there is a feature where you press a button and say whatever doubt you have and get a precise answer, it could be anything study related, basically quick answers without opening a browser (this was important because that’s where i usually fell into rabbit holes)
there is also a study together feature, its more like commitment, no one can just quit otherwise it affects everyone, and there is voting for breaks too
then we have a progress tracker, i’ve iterated on it a lot so i think its actually pretty solid
there is also an optional system which learns your study pattern over time
a smarter alarm for study sessions (not like a normal alarm)
leaderboard and study rooms
(I really like this one)- optional health system for things like eye breaks (20-20-20), hydration, and posture On the hardware side its running on a pi zero 2w in kiosk mode so it just boots straight into it and there’s no real escape into other things