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, 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 (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- (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. Wifi Dongle Adapter - $8 (https://www.amazon.com/Kootek-Raspberry-Wifi-Dongle-Adapter/dp/B00FWMEFES)

Challenges

• Raspberry Pi
  • Pre-loaded with Python. Will have to learn language (codecademy, python.org).
  • Connecting your phone to the smart mirror (to import calendar events, stock market, weather): 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.
    • This could also be done using wifi as the raspberry pi can connect online. We could possibly sync the pi to google calendar/ google weather / google news.
• Parts
  • We need to be especially careful with our screen as it is one of our more expensive parts and we have read that it is very easy to mess up a circuit board and completely fry it.
  • The two way mirror is very brittle and when cut can shatter very easily. We could possibly use the razor cutter in Whitaker.

Gant Chart