Final Project: Magic Mirror

A mirror that shows both your reflection and helpful information like the time, the weather and date.

Intermediate58

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Arduino UNO

Arduino Proto Shield

adafruit RGB led matrix

Story

Materials: Adafruit LED matrix screen, a two way mirror, Arduino, RGB Matrix Shield, Wood frame (boards, screw, glue, paint, drill), Raspberry Pi, Dell Monitor

After first attempting to use jumper wires to connect the Arduino to the LED Matrix, we ordered the Adafruit RGB Matrix Shield to simplify the wiring. When the shield arrived I soldered all the pieces on so that it could be plugged into the Arduino.

1 / 2 • underside of the shield

Next, to hook up the Arduino to the LED Matrix, we soldered a connection between the +5volt and Ground on the Matrix and the shield. We plugged the ribbon into the input opening on the Matrix. The last connection was between My computer and the Arduino so that we could run code.

I downloaded a couple example libraries in order to test out the board including Adafruit GFX Library Master, RGB Matrix Panel Master, and LED Control Master.

1 / 2 • The code on this Matrix is called 'Plasma 16x32'

After testing out coding and connections through Arduino and the LED Matrix, we moved onto Raspberry Pi and the computer monitor that would be behind the final mirror.

In order to communicate with the Raspberry Pi, I worked with raspbian code language. We used the Magic Mirror program in order to layout the monitor set up. We included modules like time, date, newsfeed, and a message.

After making sure the monitor was set it up,