𓆩 FOCUS? 𓆪

My relationship with focus is... complicated to say the least, I've got approximately 70 browser tabs open at any given point in time, half of which I do not remember what are for, But I'd argue that it's not entirely my fault...

This world is full of distractions, every pixel on any device you own begs for your attention, So what do we do? 

Well there's a lot of methods and solutions, but my favorite is the Pomodoro technique, a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s.

it breaks work into intervals of 25 minutes separated by short breaks, Very simple, but very effective.

As for the bracket, it was a very simple process, just export the mesh as an STL file, Import it to Cura, adjusted the slicing parameters:

1. • Layer Height: 0.2 mm

   • Infill: 10%

   • Supports: Not needed as print is stable.

   • Brim: Not needed as contact surface is large.

   • Orientation: Default orientation was flat and printable

   • Printing Temperature: 215°C

We start by including the core libraries our project needs: Adafruit_GFX and Adafruit_SSD1306 for drawing graphics and text on the OLED display, and MPU6050 for reading the gyrosensor's data.

Then we define the display’s resolution (128×64 pixels) and create a display object that handles all OLED operations through the I²C bus (Wire).

Finally, we create an mpu object, which will later be used to initialize and read motion/orientation data from the MPU6050 sensor.

These variables control the countdown timer logic.

• timerDuration stores how long the timer should run (in seconds).

• remainingTime tracks how many seconds are left until it finishes.

• timerRunning is a flag that tells us if the timer is currently active or paused.

• lastUpdate records the last time the timer was updated (using millis()), so we can correctly subtract seconds as real time passes.

Here we set up how the cube’s orientation translates into different modes, and add some safeguards so it doesn’t flip instantly.

• enum Mode defines the possible states: WORK (25-min session), BREAK5 (short rest), BREAK15 (longer rest), and PAUSE.
  
  

• currentMode keeps track of the active mode.
  
  

• candidateMode holds a “proposed” mode whenever the cube tilts, it won’t become active until the delay passes.
  
  

• candidateSince remembers the time (in millis()) when that candidate was first detected.
  
  

• orientationDelay sets the debounce threshold (1 second) so small shakes or accidental tilts don’t trigger mode changes.
  
  

Finally, started is a flag to tell us if the user has pressed the start button yet, so we only show the welcome screen until they’re ready.

Here we handle all the audio feedback using the buzzer.

• NOTE_F, NOTE_J, NOTE_K define frequencies for simple tones we’ll use in our sound patterns

• beep(note, duration) plays a single tone:

  • tone() starts the buzzer at the given frequency.

  • delay(duration * 1.3) keeps it on slightly longer.

  • noTone() stops the sound.
    
    

Then we define small helper functions that string beeps together into recognizable alerts:

• soundWork() → short chime sequence signaling a work session start.

• soundBreak() → different two-tone pattern for breaks.

• soundPause() → one long tone to indicate pause.

• soundFinish() → descending three-tone signal when a timer ends.

• soundReset() → two quick beeps for reset/startup confirmation.

These two functions are utility helpers for drawing text centered on the OLED screen.

• drawCentered:

  • Takes any string (text), position (y), size (textSize), and screen rotation (rotation).

  • Uses getTextBounds to measure the width/height of the text

  • Calculates the horizontal offset so the text is perfectly centered based on whether the screen is rotated (128px wide vs 64px wide).

  • Moves the cursor and prints the text.
    
    

• drawCenteredNumber:

Almost identical, but specifically intended for the countdown timer.

Together, these ensure the display always looks always matches the current mode orientation.

This helper function simply controls the RGB LED by turning its color channels on or off, we used it plenty of times before.

• It takes three booleans (r, g, b) that represent whether the red, green, or blue pin should be active.

• Each channel is written as HIGH if true, or LOW if false.

• By mixing the three, we can easily create different LED colors to match the current mode.

This function handles switching between modes whenever the cube changes orientation.

• currentMode is updated to the new mode.

• For WORK, BREAK5, and BREAK15:

  • The session length is set (25, 5, or 15 minutes).

  • If we didn’t come from PAUSE, the timer resets to a full session.

  • The timer starts running (timerRunning = true) and lastUpdate is refreshed with millis().

  • A sound cue is played to confirm the change.

  • The RGB LED is set to a unique color for that mode.

• For PAUSE:

  • The timer is stopped (timerRunning = false).

  • A different pause sound is played.

  • The LED is set to a distinct pause color.

In short, this function resets timers, plays sounds, and updates LED feedback to clearly indicate which mode the device just entered.

This is the initialization block that runs once when the device powers up.

• Serial & I²C setup:

  • Serial.begin(9600) opens a serial connection for debugging.

  • Wire.begin() starts I²C communication for the OLED and MPU6050.

• OLED setup:

  • display.begin(...) initializes the screen at address 0x3C.

  • If initialization fails, the program stops with an error message.

  • The display is cleared and text color set to white for later drawing.

• MPU6050 setup:

  • mpu.initialize() configures the gyrosensor.

  • mpu.testConnection() checks communication, if it fails, it also stops with an error message.

• Pins setup:

  • The RGB pins are set as outputs, the button as input.

  • setColor(false, false, false) ensures the LED starts off.

Basically, this function gets all hardware ready: display, gyrosensor, buzzer, RGB LED, and button input.

This is the main control loop, running continuously after setup. It ties everything together.

1. Button + startup screen

• Reads the button state each cycle.

• If the cube hasn’t been started yet, it shows a “Welcome” message on the OLED.

• On first button press, it flips started = true and jumps straight into WORK mode.
  
  

2. Orientation detection

• Reads raw acceleration values from the MPU6050.

• Normalizes them (fax, fay, faz).

• Rounds to integers to simplify detection.

• Checks orientation to assign a Mode:

  • Upright = WORK

  • Tilt one way = BREAK5

  • Tilt opposite = BREAK15

  • Upside down = PAUSE

NOTE: The checking values came from real life tests with the gyrosensor, If you wish to do the same, simply println fax, fay, faz continuously and move the sensor, note the readings you get, and assign values accordingly.

• Uses debounce: only if the new orientation is held steady for at least orientationDelay does it trigger switchMode().

3. Timer countdown

• If a timer is running, checks if 1 second passed since lastUpdate.

• Decrements remainingTime by one second.

• If time hits zero, stops the timer and plays the finish sound.
  
  

4. Button reset

• If the button is pressed during any mode, resets that mode’s timer back to full duration and plays the reset sound.

5. Screen rotation + drawing

• Sets the display rotation depending on the current mode, so the text aligns with cube orientation.

• Clears the screen.

• Displays the current mode text (WORK / BREAK / PAUSE).

• Formats remainingTime into MM:SS.

• Centers the countdown using either a large font (normal) or adjusted position (rotated).

• Updates the OLED.

• Ends with a short delay(100) to smooth updates and avoid spamming the screen too quickly.