Tech Reflect

Overview

Everyone is a little vain. Whether you’re shaving, brushing your hair, or taking a quick peek at yourself for self-admiration, it would be incredible to save some time and see your calendar or the stock market without having to look at your phone. Get ready, get informed, that is the beauty of a smart mirror. Our objective is to create a mirror that can be programmed to display a variety of different information. We are hoping to connect this smart mirror with a phone or website so you can customize your preferences easily and efficiently.

Objectives

Our objective for this project is to create a mirror than can be used as any other mirror but is also able to seamlessly display information. The information we intend to be put on display includes the time, the weather forecast for the day or week, stock information, and a calendar of the user's day. The weather forecast would need to be pulled from the internet so creating a connection between the display and the internet is necessary. Another objective is to make the mirror display controllable from an iPhone. We intend to achieve this phone-to-display connection by using a remote desktop controller that would allow a user to control the interface of the mirror display from a phone.

Team Members

1. Sam Kramer
2. Andreas Larsen
3. Alex Blustein

Budget

1. Raspberry Pi = $0 (Provided by Washington University)
2. 10" LCD Display = $69.99 https://www.amazon.com/Resolution-1280x800-Raspberry-EJ101IA-01G-Rasbperry/dp/B00S4EWF6G/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1474384968&sr=8-11&keywords=lcd+screen)
3. Power Supply - $6.59 (https://www.amazon.com/RockBirds-RB-1202-Switching-Supply-Adapter/dp/B00VM292AO/ref=pd_bxgy_147_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QH83QHMSQ472133SMD9P)
4. 14in x 20in Two-Way Mirror- $46 + $12 shipping (http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/cut_to_size_plastic/two_way_mirrored_acrylic/558)
5. Black Electrical tape- $4.11 (https://amzn.com/B001B19JLS)
6. Wood for frame- (http://www.homedepot.com/p/2-in-x-6-in-x-8-ft-2-and-Better-Kiln-Dried-Heat-Treated-Spruce-Pine-Fir-Lumber-161713/100037451)
7. Wood glue- $3.47- http://www.homedepot.com/p/Liquid-Nails-10-oz-Extreme-Heavy-Duty-Adhesive-LN-907/205089262
8. Wifi Dongle Adapter - $0

Initial Design Sketches

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Challenges

• Software
  • Raspberry pi is pre-loaded with Python. Will have to learn language (codecademy, python.org).
  • We need to find a way to connect a smartphone to the raspberry pi. This could possibly be done by using a VNC, a graphical desktop sharing system that allows you to remotely control the desktop interface of one computer from another. Our LCD screen is only 10 inches so we are considering adding a feature which allows you to switch the "widgets" visible on the mirror. This will require further knowledge of python. Also once we have fastened the LCD to the back of the mirror (check hardware sketches), it will be useful to be able to access it from another device.
  • Connecting your phone to the smart mirror (to import calendar events, stock market, weather): we can do this with the wifi dongle which allows the raspberry pi to connect online. However, there are some security issues we need to address.
  • Cyber Security: We need to ensure that no data from your connected phone can be accessed by others. We need to make sure that there is no way for other systems to access the raspberry pi and this can most likely be done by using password protection. VNC's require a password to access the desktop so this will heighten the security. No matter the amount of security, however, people will be wary of sending personal information via wifi and so for our demo we will only be using our own devices. To access the raspberry pi, we just need one device with a VNC app and the access password. (Also, we will be using the wustl secure wifi connection for our project).

• Hardware (Check sketches)
  • We need to be especially careful with our LCD screen and also our mirror as the screen's circuit board can easily be fried and the mirror is brittle. To ensure that our mirror/screen will not break during use, we are going to build a wooden frame/case and a stand for the mirror. The wooden frame/case secures the LCD screen on the back of the mirror by placing planks of wood along the back edges of the screen. The screen will not be able to be separated easily from the back of our mirror. For the sake of our demo, we plan on either 3D printing or building a stand for the mirror as to avoid the risk of hanging the mirror and having it drop.

Gantt Chart

File:GanttTwo.PNG