Cubii is the world’s first smart under-desk elliptical machine
Chances are you’ve come across that 3 o’clock feeling where you’ve been sitting at your desk writing all day long without moving very much. This is where Cubii comes in. It allows you to stay healthy, keeps your blood flowing and keeps your mind active.
The device was invented by three University of Chicago graduates in their early 20s. Constrained with limited desk exercise solutions in their own workplace, they decided to leave their jobs and create their own office wellness product. The trio took to Kickstarter two years ago to raise funds. Over 1,000 people backed the idea and the company raised more than $300,000. Thus, Cubii was born.

We all know excessive sitting is not good for us. More than one-half of an average person’s day is spent being sedentary. For some time, scientists have warned us of the risks of sitting too much, but lately the news seems to get and more dire sounding. One professor has even worked out from statistical analysis that chairs kill more people than smoking!
Scientists estimate that if you spend 10 to 20 years sitting down for 6 hours a day, and lets face it – most of us are probably guilty of this, you may have lost up to 7 quality adjusted life years (years without medical issues or death).
Essential reading: Why sitting is slowly killing you and what you can do about it
Cubic has been developed to change all that. This is a pretty simple elliptical trainer, but the design has been tweaked so the trajectory of the pedals allow your legs to move smoothly and comfortably. This gives you an under-the-desk workout with no bumped knees. If you were to use a conventional pedal cycler, the higher range of motion would not be optimal for use under a desk.

An adjustable resistance lets you increase or decrease the intensity of your workout through the day. The company says, you can burn approximately 100-150 calories per hour depending on your rotations per minute (RPM) and which of the eight resistance levels you choose.
The elliptical machine links via Bluetooth to the Cubii app (available on iOS and Android), to update you on your daily workouts with distance traveled, strides taken, time elapsed and calories burned. You can also set goals for yourself and view your daily, weekly, monthly progress. Or have the app nudge you after some time of inactivity!
There is also a social aspect. Share your progress with friends and family, or start a friendly competition.
Most recently, Cubii has introduced the ability to sync to the Fitbit and Jawbone app and convert Cubii strides to steps. This means you will get credit for your Cubii workout and get a boost to your daily step count.
![]() | Cubii | ![]() |
Finally, the device is designed to be quiet, so you can discreetly exercise without disturbing your co-workers. We have not tested Cubii ourself, but check-out the reviews on Amazon.
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