Create your own smart mirror
Despite the fact that today we already have a multitude of screens capable of giving us all the information we need, it never hurts to have some extra. Much less if it is a screen that could tell us what the weather will be like, calendar appointments or news highlights as we prepare to leave the house.
These types of “screens” are none other than smart mirrors. These have become popular and there are several commercial proposals that already exist in the market. But if you want to create your own you have to know that doing it is much easier than it seems. What’s more, you can customize it as much as you want and even add the possibility of using Alexa to show one thing or another.
Ok, for the latter you could use an Amazon Echo Show, but that is a more interesting device for a location such as the kitchen or your home office and not so much to place in a bedroom or bathroom, which is where usually you usually make yourself handsome or pretty to go out on the street.
So, in order to build your smart mirror with Alexa, the first thing you need is some gadgets and building materials.
Components needed to create a smart mirror
- A Raspberry Pi, preferably one of the latest models in case you want to reuse it for something else in the future. Still the Raspberry Pi 3 would do too
- 16 GB micro SD card for operating system and some other extras
- Computer monitor. It will be used behind the mirror effect glass to show all the information. Here the size will depend on the mirror itself and what you want to show in it
- Cables, adapters and some extra material for the complete construction of the project. Here you have the complete list if you want to create something similar like the one in the video you have just above
Building your smart mirror
With all the materials ready, the result can be as interesting and attractive as time you dedicate to improving each of the options offered by this project that was created in a very simple way really.
The base is a ikea photo frame. This one is hit with a mirrored privacy vinyl. This allows you to achieve the same effect as those mirrors that you see in police films when an accused is interrogated. In the room there is a mirror that does not allow you to see those who are behind the mirror unless a light is turned on in that second room.
Well, with the mirror ready, the next step is to place a screen behind it that can be the size you want. Depending on what you need or want to have in it, you can choose it with a higher or better diagonal. This screen does have to be created with a structure where it can be put together with the Rasbperry Pi, which will be in charge of displaying the information.
All that information is something the Raspberry Pi reads once configured. This step, the configuration step, is logically the most complicated of all. The good thing is that on the internet there are multitude of tutorials where they explain how to do it. What’s more, the person in charge of this smart mirror project has a tutorial in which, in addition, he tells how to integrate the possibility of using Alexa voice commands so that they are seen in it.
That step by step to configure the Raspberry Pi with Alexa commands You can check it there and it won’t cost you much if you know how to handle the command line minimally. So, with some patience and a more or less low investment you can have a technological product with which those who come to your house and see it will hallucinate. Logically if you don’t want integration with Alexa it will be even cheaper.
Finally, this is just one example, there are many more that combine different ideas, that are vertical instead of horizon, that cover the entire surface or just one box, etc.