Android magic mirror. Android magic mirror

What is Magic Mirror?

If you’re thinking about building your own Smart mirror, you might have seen mentions of ‘Magic Mirror’. Let’s have a look at what Magic Mirror is and how it’s used for your Smart mirror.

Magic Mirror (known as MagicMirror²) is open source software used to run a Smart mirror.

Think of MagicMirror² as the brains that run your Smart mirror. While there are other software options, MagicMirror² is the most popular option thanks to the third party modules people have developed for it.

MagicMirror² is free to use and there’s a large community of Smart mirror builders supporting it.

What Can Magic Mirror Do?

MagicMirror² is modular, which means you can pick and choose the features you want to use for your Smart mirror.

While there are hundreds of different modules you can easily install into your Smart mirror, here are some examples of popular modules:

• Weather report: see weather forecasts of your local weather
• Local news: see news bulletins and headlines based on topics you’re interested in
• Alexa: add voice commands and integrate Amazon’s Alexa into your Smart mirror
• Facial Recognition: customize your Smart mirror based on who walks into the room
• Calendar: view your calendar and see upcoming appointments
• Lists: see your shopping list or your day’s To-do list

There are plenty of other modules and if you know a bit of coding, you can try creating your own custom modules. As you will see throughout this website, it’s very easy to add modules to your Smart mirror without knowing how to code.

Here is a close-up of my Smart mirror running Magic Mirror:

While I only display a few basic modules on my Smart mirror, you can fully customize your Smart mirror to display as much or as little as you want.

Running Magic Mirror on a Raspberry Pi

Most Smart mirror builds (including the one I built as documented on this site) use Raspberry Pi to run the software. If you’ve never used a Raspberry Pi before, think of it as a credit card sized computer.

While a PC uses Windows, Raspberry Pi has their own operating system. This is covered in more detail in my other articles.

The key point to remember is that MagicMirror² is software you install and run on a Raspberry Pi. MagicMirror² is incredibly easy to install, and once it’s on your Raspberry Pi, you’ll be able to start customizing your Smart mirror’s features.

Alternatives to Magic Mirror

While MagicMirror² is the most popular option for Smart mirrors, it’s not the only choice. If you plan on building a Smart mirror using an old tablet, you may prefer to run your Smart mirror on Android instead of a Raspberry Pi.

Search the Google Play store for ‘Magic Mirror’ or ‘Smart Mirror’ and you’ll see plenty of different apps to use for your Smart mirror.

While they may not have as many features as MagicMirror² does, if you’re looking for a simple Smart mirror, it might be the right choice for you.

DISCLOSURE: articles may contain affiliate links, meaning when you click the links and make a purchase, I receive a commission. Find out more here.

Project Tutorials and Builds

Built by Az is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, or Amazon.de

Android magic mirror

Here’s a perfect weekend hack. Grab that old clunky Kindle Fire or any other tablet you have kicking around the dust and put it to good use (weird that we can call these things old now eh?). We’re going to make a Smart Mirror. I chose to use React Native for this, but you can do this with any stack that will run on a tablet (such as a webpage). You can find this project on github.com/ajwhite/MagicMirror.

There’s not a whole lot to this project, it’s a perfect DIY for a developer who wants to make some cool things for the house. The Internet-of-Things is a growing trend and, we the developers, are the privileged ones who get to make them ourselves and command them do exactly what we want them to do. I never thought I’d be telling a mirror what to do unless I was arguing with myself in front of one. Times ‘a changin’.

This is only comprised of:

• Two way mirror (more expensive, harder to come by) OR Plexiglass Mirror Film (cheaper option)
• Black construction paper (or something else dark that you can stick on the back)
• Velcro (or something that you can mount the tablet onto the glass)
• . A tablet. You won’t need anything fancy for this.

Create your mirror

This is probably the hardest part if you’re going the Plexiglass Mirror Film route. For a relatable experience, we’re basically putting a screen protector on a 4 foot Smart phone. Not fun. If you’re using a two-way mirror, go ahead to the next step.

I used the Gila Mirror Privacy Window Film. These Gila folks certainly seem to enjoy making instructional videos, so you’re in luck. Make sure you do this on a nice flat surface. It’ll be helpful to have another person help you apply it. I can attest that this can be done on your own, since I don’t have friends. So holster your impatience and do it slowly if you’re on your own. If you’re the crafty type, or good with your hands, you’ll have a breeze.

Black out the backside

A two-way mirror, by design, is going to let light through and look a bit opaque. You’re going to want to flip over your mirror and line the back of it with something dark. I used construction paper. Make sure you leave some room for your tablet, since you want that to shine through.

At this point I tucked the tablet below the mirror to see how it looks. Don’t mind the weird reflection.

Set up the mount

Chances are you’re going to want to see how it looks while you’re building your software. It’s like night and day when you put the tablet behind the mirror and only the white text icons shine through compared to looking at the emulator. I went ahead and set up my velcro mount at this point so I could have the tablet running on the mirror while developing the application and get the full effect. Make sure you do this carefully and let it sit for a few minutes. The glass on the tablet won’t hold the adhesive as well as the mirror/plexiglass will, so the velcro on your tablet is likely to come lose if you remove it often. You’ve been warned.

(I ran out of construction paper at this point. Be advised, two pieces is not enough).

Create your app

Craft time is over, and onto development. We have two main goals here:

And that’s really it. This is the UI of the application that the photo at the top uses. It’s crazy how something so basic can come out looking so good. Night and day.

A this point it should be pretty clear that it doesn’t matter what technology you choose to work with. I decided to use React Native’s new Android release as an excuse to get my hands on it. You could just as easily wire this up with a webpage and load it up on your tablet.

Some cool ideas to get you started:

• The current date time
• The weather powered by forecast.io
• If you’re in a metropolitan area and use public transportation with Google Maps Directions API
• If you use Robin and bluetooth Beacons, use the Physical Spaces API to react when someone enters the room
• If you’re on Github a lot, their notifications API
• Stock quote ticker via Market Data API
• Some latest tweets
• Latest news headlines (via Google News Search API, although be warned that it’s being deprecated

And there you have it! This is where I left off after hooking up my APIs.

My implementation was really basic. Just a series of components. I still need to clean this up so I can control the visibility of the component from a higher level and not show rows that don’t have any notifications.

import DateView, TimeView, WeatherView, StockView, GithubView, CalendarView from ‘./Views’ function MagicMirror const stocks = [‘FB’, ‘TWTR’, ‘AAPL’, ‘GOOGL’, ‘MSFT’, ‘TSLA’] const Users = [‘atticoos’, ‘robinpowered’, ‘elonmusk’] return ( View MirrorLayout top right DateView / TimeView / WeatherView / View users= / GithubView / CalendarView / MirrorLayout Stocks stocks= / View )

This project was inspired by the original idea maker github.com/HannahMitt/HomeMirror and a fellow dev github.com/plondon/BlackMirror.

Future Integrations with Robin

Robin, while mainly used in offices (and being the place I work), has a really cool system called Presence. With the power of bluetooth beacons, along with the mobile app, Robin will be able to detect room entry/exit events and exposes an API to these.

The next thing I plan to do here is have contextual information on the mirror depending on who’s in the room. Instead of it always displaying my calendar, or the stocks or tweets that I’m interested in, with Robin it could show that in terms of the user who’s currently in the room. You can see some examples of these requests on the developer page.

If you decide to build one, please link it in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев below!

Smart Mirror

A Smart mirror is a two-way mirror with an electronic display behind the glass. The display can show the viewer different kinds of information in the form of widgets, such as weather, time, date, and news updates. This product would be useful for busy individuals that want to multitask and stay informed while on the go. Instead of constantly pulling out a device, one could get informed while finishing daily grooming tasks. I designed and built my own prototype and delved into the world of do-it-yourself Smart mirrors.

Functional Working Process

The basic design of a Smart mirror starts with the glass that is to be used. Two-way glass is the recommended type as it lets the graphics on the display come through clearer. Vanity Vision glass was used as it is an optimal choice for building Smart mirrors. I used an Android tablet as a display to be mounted on the back of the mirror. The rest of the glass around the display was blacked out by use of black cardboard to ensure that there was a good reflection. Upon uploading the code to the device from Android Studio, the widgets of time, date, real-time weather and news updates were visible through the front of the glass while reflecting the user’s image on the mirror.

Electrical Design

The electrical component of this project was a simple Android tablet device mounted to the back of the glass. I used the Smart mirror code on GitHub and connected the device to my laptop. I then uploaded the code to the Android device which booted up the display for the Smart mirror app. The code has built-in features for modification of design of the application.The device must be connected to Wi-Fi in order to gather the correct data. The device must also be plugged in to a power source. Originally, I wanted to incorporate an Arduino Uno to add sensor features like the Adafruit PIR motion sensor so that when movement was detected, it would turn the mirror on and off when someone walked in front of it, thus saving power. The data is collected by the code installed on the device, which is transmitted by Wi-Fi signal, and presented on the screen of the device which is displayed through the glass to the user.

Market Comparisons

Current products on the Smart mirror market are expensive. For instance, a mirror through Chicago-based Glance Mirror (glancemirror.com) is 1800.00. My mirror, on the other hand, was produced for under 100. This is not including the cost of the Android device because I used an old device that was not in current use. The initial and final prototypes used four panes of Vanity Vision glass that were 0.95 each. I used salvaged wood for the frame. If it were to be purchased new, total costs would be around 30. All the rest of the hardware supplies totaled around 20. If a production-ready prototype were to be produced, I would use higher-grade materials and display device, which would drive up the cost significantly. However, I am sure that I could build an efficient and attractive model for under 1,800.

Conclusion

This product has great potential mostly in luxury markets due to current high costs. As of today, do-it-yourself electronic hobbyists produce most Smart mirrors, aside from a few small companies. From a small survey, I concluded that it is extremely interesting to people and that they would be interested in purchasing one for their own home. Smart mirrors can be produced quite easily depending on how complex one wants to make it. This has given me great motivation to continue building Smart mirrors for friends and family and possibly try to gain employment at Glance Mirror or a similar company.

References Home. (n.d.). Retrieved December 05, 2016, from http://www.glancemirror.com/

Learn more about Illinois Tech’s Smart Lab. https://www.iit.edu/smartlab

Learn more.

Illinois Tech welcomes you to join our community of people who discover, create, and solve. Apply today, visit us in Chicago, and contact us for more information.

Turn An Old Smartphone Into A Smart Mirror

Have you got an old smartphone lying around? Here’s an easy project to get some use from your old Smart phone by turning it into a Smart mirror for your bedroom, bathroom or living room. You can use it to display information like the date and time, weather, traffic updates and your daily reminders or to do list.

This project should take you around an hour or two to complete and costs about 15 – 25 depending on what materials you have at home already.

If building a Smart mirror isn’t for you, why not try building your own designer mirror for your home.

What You Need To Build A Smart Mirror

• Buy Here – 12″ x 12″
• Buy Here – 12″ x 24″

How To Build A Smart Mirror

Prepare Your Smart Phone

Start off by preparing your Smart phone. You’ll need to download an app which is able to display all of the information you’d like to be able to see through the mirror as you won’t be able to use the touch screen functionality once your phone is mounted behind the mirror sheet. There are a couple of “home Smart mirror” applications available in the Apple and Android app stores, you’ll just need to find one which suites your preferences.

After downloading the app, set your display to maximum brightness and prepare a charger which you’ll leave permanently plugged into your phone.

Assemble Your Mirror

Start off by removing the glass and any photos or artwork from your picture frame, you’ll just be using the outside frame and the mounting/hanging brackets or wire which is secured to this frame.

Next you’ll need to mount your two way mirror into your picture frame. The mirror should be the exact same size as the glass was to fit perfectly into the frame. Make sure that the mirror you’ve bought is a two way mirror, this is a completely different design to a traditional mirror. A two way mirror allows the light to pass from the back to the front of the mirror as well as reflecting the light from the front like a traditional mirror. Mounting your cellphone on the back side of the mirror will allow the display to be seen through the mirror while maintaining the reflection of a traditional mirror from the front.

Next comes the mounting of your Smart phone and covering the back side of the mirror. In order for the two way mirror to reflect properly, the back side needs to be as dark as possible. You can either cover it with black card or use the thick backing from the picture frame and cut out a section in an area you’d like the text displayed the exact same size as your phone’s display. Place your Smart phone into this cutout and then use the duct tape to secure it in place and cover up any gaps along the edges where light could get from the back of the mirror to the front.

Once your phone is mounted, plug in the charger and find a place to mount your new Smart mirror on the wall.

Some Ideas To Take Your Smart Mirror Further

You don’t have to use a Smart phone, you could use an old tablet or even an old LCD monitor or television if you’ve got a larger two way mirror.

Use a proximity sensor to switch your Smart phone display on or off when a person is detected or take it one step further an use your phone’s facial recognition to tailor the information which is displayed to the individual looking at the mirror.

Since the touch screen functionality does not work behind the mirror, using voice recognition would be a great idea to change the displayed data.

Good luck with your Smart mirror project, let us know how yours turned out in the Комментарии и мнения владельцев section below. We’d love to see some pictures of what our readers have built.