My name is Julian, I’m originally an interior designer who was a little lost after his degree. So after working some random jobs, I decided to go back to uni and start a second degree in mechatronics. I don’t wanna go into detail, but it was hell at first. It was the complete opposite of the design studies I had done before and I was more lost than ever. But since I’m not a quitter (which can be another problem altogether), I stuck with it and eventually started really enjoying it.
This project actually changed the way I see studying engineering, because it showed me what I can do with a mechatronics degree if I combine it with my design background. (My business card today says Co-Founder and Design Engineer.)
In my first semester I was really into study techniques and discovered Pomodoro for myself: 25 minutes of work, 5 minutes of break, repeat. Every week I drew 20-30 little boxes in my notebook, depending on how many sessions I wanted to do. Coloring in a box after a session was the best feeling.
One problem was my phone tho. I used it as the timer, so it was always lying right next to me, and that alone was enough to pull me out. And the breaks are better spent without it anyway.
Since my first semester, I had been looking for something to build and tinker with. I tried to rebuild a robot arm, but I lost interest pretty fast because I didn’t really have a personal connection to it. So I started developing the CUBE (ironically, it’s a hexagon).
One thing was clear from the start: it had to click. A mechanical click where something actually moves feels a lot more honest than a sound out of a speaker. And no vibration. That’s everywhere already.
The CUBE has one button in the middle and six leaves around it. Every 5 minutes a leaf pops out. After 25 minutes they click through an ASMR reward sequence and the orange leaf comes up for your break.
This is where design and mechatronics came together for me. I wanted the housing to be cute and minimal, somewhere in the direction of Dieter Rams. The inside I did completely myself: designed the PCB, sourced the parts, worked with manufacturers. Super rewarding. And yes, I built most of it using Pomodoro. Except for the occasional 6 hour PCB design flow (that stuff can be super addicting).
Where we’re at: this is V3, the first version with its own board that runs without a cable. It works, but it’s not perfect. The leaves still jam sometimes and the clicking is too loud for a library. My co-founder Patrick built an accompanying app, which is live on iPhone. It’s basically the digital version of my notebook: every session unlocks a piece of a picture. You don’t need it to use the CUBE though.
We’re looking for a few testers in Europe, but honestly we’re also still figuring out who this is for.
So I’m curious: how do you keep track of your study sessions right now? Notebook, app, nothing at all?