I’ve tried to force myself to do excercise (c25k) a few times, but I always lose motivation early on. I’m a software engineer and a gamer, so naturally I started building another gadget to convince myself to spend less time sitting down.

The main hardware I am using is an ESP32-S3 with a round touchscreen showing pixel avatars and fitness stats for you and your friends, these are quite cheap so the plan is to have something always-on that you can watch and actively remind you to do your part. I'm also experimenting with other smartwatch devices like my pebble 2 duo watch. A phone app reads the health data and sends it to the ESP over Bluetooth.

The idea is to make exercise something we commit to together, in a fun, co-operative way. I already convinced a few friends to join. Still early, but the little screen is working :)