DIY Guru Creates Sleek Raspberry Pi-Powered Smart Mirror With Facial Recognition
Rather than go stir crazy while social distancing, some people are busying themselves with fun and unique projects involving the Raspberry Pi. Eben Kouao is one of those folks. He took a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (2GB) and built himself a smart mirror, which is exactly what it sounds like—a mirror with smart capabilities and touch support.
It also features facial recognition capabilities, giving his Smart Mirror AI (SMAI) project some added depth and usability.
"With SMAI, you can now keep track of your daily tasks, control your home appliances through its touch interface. With its facial recognition, you can now load up your personalized information—ranging from your daily commute to your daily health goals.
The application is endless. Devices and industries are getting smarter, It’s time to bring our households into the future," Kouao explains.
The main components of his system are the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B ($45.64) and a two-way mirror ($14.40) measuring 12 x 12 inches, with 30 percent transparency. Other parts include a power supply, Raspberry Pi Camera with face detection, microSD memory card, HDMI cable. The tally for all those things comes to around $113.
It's not quite that cheap, though. He also used a 32-inch TV panel, IR frame, and LED strips to make the magic happen, and assembled it all into a custom wooden frame.
The end result is a nifty contraption that can be used to control home appliances, with optional Alexa integration. He even toyed with getting Minecraft running on the SMAI. On the software side, it's based on the open source Magic Mirror2 project. There are a bunch of modules available for it, making it easy to add functionality like Spotify.
Check out the video embedded above and let us know what you think in the comments section below!
