Hi All,

Pomodoro technique is really effective, more than the technique it’s more or less like a good stress buster to me.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique

There are few problems with the timer management

1.  It’s impractical for me to manually add 25-minute timer every time

2. I can do a small script but again my computer should always be on

3. Use some app or use a timer with sound (both of them are really disturbing for myself and also colleagues around me)

What did I use

  1. With anything involving DIY/IoT, there are two important aspects – It should be small and portable and secondly, cost should below.

Components Used :

  1. ESP8266
  2. 0.96Inch 128×64 OLED display (Pictures below)
  3. Micropython ( I could have gone with C++ but honestly I don’t know the language, hence I had to go through a lot of pain to make it work in microphone)
  4. Slack for daytime notifications about timer stages

Challenges :

  1. How do I make sure I don’t look at the clock every 25 minutes? Sound is not an option, so I used a slack webhook to notify me
  2. Code was big and hence there were memory allocation issues in micro-controller, used mpy_cross to compile code and transport to micropython (http://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/index.html)
  3. Overall project cost – Less than 3.5 USD

code used :

https://github.com/yukthr/auts/tree/master/pomodoro_esp8266

 

For every 25 Mins, it would indicate a 5-minute non-compulsive break and after 2.5 Hours a compulsive break of 15 minutes. It’s understandable that in our nature of work we might be in a call or meeting or a code review, but just a small a non-compulsive reminder that we have a 5m break for hydration or fresh air does really improve thought process and most importantly is a de-stressor.

 

 

-Rakesh