Focus Friend

Inspiration

We were inspired by how much we already track in our daily lives — steps, sleep, calories, screen time — yet we don’t measure something just as important: our ability to focus. During study sessions, it’s often hard to tell whether we’re truly engaged or just passively sitting in front of a screen. We wanted to make focus visible and measurable, so people can better understand their study habits and improve them over time. That idea became Focus Friend.

What it does

Focus Friend is a desk app that monitors a user’s attention during study sessions using webcam input. It detects when the user is focused or distracted, stores session data, and analyzes trends over time to identify patterns of real productivity versus moments when effort isn’t translating into progress, helping users make more meaningful and informed study decisions.

How we built it

We built Focus Friend as a desk app using Python and OpenCV to analyze webcam input and detect whether a user is focused or distracted during a study session. The app continuously records attention data and sends it to a Vultr cloud backend, where each study session is stored securely. We then use Gemini to analyze this data over time, identifying patterns and trends in productivity. This combination allows Focus Friend to turn real-time attention signals into meaningful insights that help users understand and improve how they study.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was balancing ambition with feasibility. We initially envisioned Focus Friend as a full IoT desk pet that could visually express how a study session was going and connect with lights and speakers to dynamically shape the study environment. While this vision guided our design, it proved too ambitious to fully implement within our timeline. To ensure we delivered a working and impactful solution, we scaled back to a focused MVP that centers on accurately measuring attention and generating meaningful insights, while keeping the broader IoT experience as a clear future direction.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that we stuck with the project even when things weren’t working as planned. Instead of giving up, we pivoted, adapted our scope, and focused on building a solid MVP. That resilience allowed us to deliver a meaningful product and set a clear foundation for future growth.

What we learned

We learned how to connect different parts of a system together, from the front end to the back end and cloud servers. Along the way, we gained hands-on experience with Raspberry Pis, especially troubleshooting hardware, networking, and deployment issues. We also learned a lot about using Vultr, exploring its different services and understanding how cloud infrastructure supports real-time applications.

What's next for Focus Friend

Next, we plan to expand Focus Friend beyond a desk app into a full IoT experience. This includes connecting with smart lights and speakers to create an adaptive study environment, adding advanced AI-driven insights, and using long-term focus trends to deliver personalized recommendations. We envision Focus Friend living on many desks and workstations, helping not only individuals understand their own focus patterns but also supporting kids in learning how to concentrate. Over time, we hope it becomes a household name, just like other IoT devices for habit tracking, making focus and productivity accessible and fun for everyone.