SmartMirror

The Interface

Inspiration

Create easier access to important information for students.

What it does

The Smart Mirror displays essential information, including the time, weather forecasts, and even your blackboard calendar.

How we built it

We used amazon web services to run a website that pulls data from Weather Underground and the UC blackboard. The display is done through HTML, CSS, and Javascript, meaning it will work on any device that has access to the internet.

Challenges we ran into

Solved: We solved problems with connecting the domain name to the Amazon Web Service as well as parsing errors and header information when pulling information from the Amazon Web Server.

Unsolved: We were unable to add voice commands as Voice API's for the Raspberry Pi, our intended platform for the Smart Mirror, were not loading or running functionally. We were also unable to add a LED strip for time and internet controlled ambient lighting, as the LED strip we were using failed during development.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that the Smart Mirror can run on any platform with internet access and a web browser. We are also proud that Blackboard Calendar integration happened smoothly, as well as the visual aesthetic of the web page.

What we learned

We learned how to set up an Amazon Web Service server, as well as linking it to a domain name, even after making an irreversible mistake with our first domain name. Furthermore, we learned how to set up SSH and FTP connections with the web service. We also learned an extensible amount about using a command line interface. Finally, we learned different programming syntaxes within HTML, Python, PHP and JavaScript.

What's next for SmartMirror

In the future, we hope to implement light control to turn on either at a certain time or when motion is detected, as well as voice-control so the user can ask the device to only show specific information or to control lights.