Smart Mirror: Start Your Day with a Bunch of Useful Information and Entertainment

With the advancement in technologies, today every electronics gadget is having a “smart” version of it. In the market, you find lots of smart electronic devices, such as smart speakers, smart TVs, smart lights, smart fridges, smart watches, and many more. Similarly, a smart mirror is a new concept of using a normal mirror smartly. There is a mirror in our bathrooms, bedrooms, or closets. However, we generally, use it for getting ready or to try some new outfits. A smart mirror has more capabilities than a traditional reflective mirror. It can display anything you want on the surface of the mirror, such as news feed, upcoming appointments, weather forecasts, time, calendar, pictures, and many other applications including your reflection. These features of a smart mirror can help you make it more productive and allow you to install smart appliances in your home. 

What Exactly is a Smart Mirror?

A smart mirror is a two-way mirror that has an inbuilt display behind the glass. Therefore, it presents multimedia and information to the user while reflecting the image of the user at the same time. The smart mirrors can be used for displaying photographs, entertainment, latest news headlines, traffic estimation, incoming messages, and several other things. Smart mirrors allow you to multitask in your daily life with busy schedules. The mirrors can come in all sizes starting from small table mirrors to huge wall mount bathroom mirrors. In addition, you can customize the display pattern and information on the smart mirror of your own choice and add voice commands by using Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Home Assistant.

What are Various Hardware Required to Make a Smart Mirror?

Smart mirrors can be formed by using a few hardware which is quite cost-effective. Some of the essential hardware lists are discussed below:

• Frame
• Raspberry Pi OS platform with micro SD card
• Mirrored security glass
• Slim bezel PC Monitor with HDMI input

With this, there are a couple of software options that enable Raspberry Pi to run smoothly as a smart mirror. MagicMirror is one of the most popular and open-source programs that run on a Raspberry Pi OS and provides different features for the screen.

What Features Can You Add to your Smart Mirror?

The great thing about installing a smart mirror at your home is you can customize it to your own needs. Some of the different features which you can include in your smart mirror are listed below:

• Motion Sensor: With the help of it you can turn on the smart mirror automatically while entering your room. 
• Facial Recognition: This feature helps you to detect who is in the room and can display the content that matches the particular person.
• LED Lighting: By surrounding, a simple LED strip around your smart mirror can add a nice feature of lighting to your room.
• Touch Screen: By incorporating touch into your smart mirror allow you to interact with it in a smoother way.

What are the Advantages of Smart Mirror?

Smart mirrors have a plethora of advantages that can help individuals to perform their regular tasks productively. Some of the major advantages are discussed below:

• There is no need to open any applications or anything to get useful information such as weather forecast, time, calendar, etc. Smart mirrors deliver you all information at the time you brush your teeth or get ready for the office.
• It helps you to save your valuable time amid the rush of every day’s goals.
• It can engage your kids by displaying their favorite entertainment shows when you have no time for putting on the TV.
• It enhances the interior of your home by providing a smart and futuristic look.

The Bottom Line

Making a smart mirror with the Raspberry Pi platform and MagicMirror software may sound complicated, however, it is very simple to build a smart mirror by following a few steps through the recommended website or online tutorials. It may hardly take a weekend to make a smart mirror depending on the number of features you want to add to your smart mirror. Installing a smart mirror into your home can give you a space-age feeling that we often see in the movies.

About the Author(s)

     

Rosy Behera

Rosy Behera holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and is currently working as a content writing professional. She loves to portray her thoughts and ideas via her command on words. Grabbing her audience’s attention with her creative write ups is one of her biggest assets. Apart from writing, she is a certified “Odisi” dancer and has done Gardharva in Drawing, Painting and Arts. She always explores new things through travel and is a big foodie.