Smart Mirror (2019)
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/3/3/25338853/published/img-1928_2.jpg)
This was a project that I have seen done in the past by others that I thought was a very interesting concept. However, I wanted to build one with my own twist on it, and make it as custom as possible! To accomplish this, I decided I would get a monitor for my display, and make the dimensions of my mirror based off of that. Since it was a 20" monitor, the horizontal length of it was about 18.5", so I flipped the axis of the monitor so it could display in a portrait mode, and then I could build an 18" by 24" mirror. I had bought a sheet of glass of this dimension, and also one way mirror film to be applied to the glass to get the mirror effect. As long is the space behind the film is dark, it will appear reflective, so there is a black cloth on the backside to help achieve this. The pixels on the monitor that do not turn on are also dark of course, giving that side a mirror effect as well. The mirror film allows light to be projected through it, so when the led monitor lights up, the words and pictures are able to be displayed, giving it a floating effect.
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/3/3/25338853/published/img-1841_2.jpg)
The frame itself I build out of value wood from my local hardware store, in which I sawed up accordingly to build the frame. Finally, I used a raspberry Pi to download the mirror software onto it. I added some custom modules to it such as a sports scoreboard for my favorite teams, along with one that shows the current score and upcoming schedule of all NFL teams.
I also added a PIR sensor to track motion. This sends a voltage to a GPIO pin of the Pi, and when voltage is detected at this pin it tells the HDMI port to turn on, thus saving power when it is turned off. Along with these, I have my Google calendar integrated, along with current weather, dad jokes, and cycling information from the NASA website. I plan to integrate an Amazon Alexa-like feature in the future, but I will need to get more components such as a microphone and speakers to accomplish this.
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