Interactive

Mirror Build Instructions

This Android controlled interactive mirror runs a number of Android apps. The interactive mirror can display pictures, running text, simple games, and video streamed from the Android phone. Materials: RGB 16 x 32 Matrix from Adafruit - $80 IOIO Board - $50 Bluetooth Dongle - $5 Another IOIO board or a PIC3KIT programmer (required if using Bluetooth to upgrade the IOIO firmware to Bluetooth compatible) Black Fabric (an old Black T-shirt will do) Black Foam Core Board 5V 2A Power Supply 2-Way Mirror Picture Frame (Antiques shops are good places to find unique looking ones) Duct tape Android Phone - 2.3.3 or above if using Bluetooth This project uses the IOIO microcontroller. Ytai Ben-Tsvi, the creator of IOIO, has things well documented at IOIO Wiki (http://bit.ly/J0GOq4) as well as an active support community for questions.

Step 1. IOIO Board Bootloader & Firmware Upgrade

The first thing youll need to do is upgrade the bootloader on the IOIO microcontroller. Refer to these instructions: http://bit.ly/tS1GlZ on how to update the IOIO bootloader. Then, install a custom IOIO firmware that supports the 32 x 16 RBG LED matrix from Adafruit. The custom firmware can be found here, http://bit.ly/K2w9gm. Follow these instructions: http://bit.ly/J0vJp0 on the IOIO wiki to use the IOIO manager application from your Android phone to install the custom firmware.

Step 2. Wiring
Wire everything per this schematic:
Back oft he R G B LED M at r i x

C onnectI ncl uded C abl e H er e 5VD C f orPow er

C onnect13 Pi ns f r om LED M at r i xt oI OI O Looki ng att he C abl ef r om t he t op vi ew ( w hi l ei ti s pl ugged i nt ot he M at r i x) ,w i r et he pi ns not ed t ot he r espect i ve pi ns on t he I OI O boar d( ex.t he t op l ef t pi n/ wi r e on t he cabl e goes t oI OI O boar d pi n 23)

5V 2A Pow er Suppl y C onnect U SB Bl uet oot h D ongl e H er e

5VD C f or Pow er

 If this is a permanent installation, you can cut off the other end of the included LED matrix cable and solder directly to the pins on the IOIO.

After wiring, it will look like this:

Before mounting in the picture frame, check that everything is wired correctly. Supply 5V power to the IOIO board and 5V power to the LED matrix. Also plug in the Bluetooth dongle to the IOIO board. Bluetooth pair the IOIO to your Android phone, the pairing code is: 4545. Then, install one of the apps in step 5 on your Android Phone and run it. If all is well, then youll see the LED Matrix light up per the app.

Step 3. Mounting
Cut the Black Foam Core board to the size of your picture frame and then cut a center rectangle in the middle of the foam core board to fit the LED matrix. Mount the LED matrix in Black Foam Core board. You can secure the back of it with duct tape.

Front of the LED Matrix Now cover the front of the matrix and foam core board with the black t-shirt. This is needed for the effect of the 2-way mirror. If there is any white exposed the mirror effect will be ruined.


Secure the t-shirt using duct tape or some other adhesive.


Use a glass cutter to cut the two-way mirror to the size of the picture frame.


Secure the two-way mirror in the picture frame with glue or two sided tape.

Step 4. Final Installation

Now just mount the LED matrix into the picture frame. It should be a tight fit so it wont move around much, but you may also want to secure it with duct tape or some other frame mount.

 Assuming you have covered the LED matrix correctly with the black t-shirt and there is no white showing, it will look like a mirror when turned off.

 Just for reference, if the LED matrix is not covered in black fabric the mirror effect will be lost and it will look like this.

 The LED matrix is visible when turned on

Step 5. Install the Apps and Enjoy

At the time of this writing, there are four apps written for the IOIO LED matrix that can be downloaded from Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market). Ensure before running the apps, you Bluetooth pair your phone to the IOIO using pairing code: 4545. If you have an Android phone 2.3.3 and above this pairing step only needs to be done once. App IOIO Pics to LED Matrix Choose a pre-set image and display it on the LED matrix

IOIO 8-Ball Magic 8-Ball fortune teller. Displays the answers to your questions on the LED matrix.

IOIO Verbage to LED Matrix Displays random words on the LED matrix

IOIO Camera to LED Matrix Streams a small portion of the camera frame to the LED matrix. This one is not really that useful as the portion of the camera video displayed is very small and is really more of a proof of concept that the IOIO LED matrix can also do video.

The Magic 8 Ball app

Step 6 (Optional): Add your own graphics & modify the source code
The source code for each of the apps is posted here: http://bit.ly/JsoE4X If you can code in Android (essentially Java), feel free to modify the apps per your own needs using your own graphics. Youll find the graphics in the /res/raw folder in the Android projects. The bitmap graphics must be saved in the RGB565 BMP format. Adobe Photoshop claims to be able to save in RBG565 format, but unfortunately those files were not compatible so as a work around, edit the graphic as youd like in Photoshop, or your favorite photo editor. The file must be saved as 32 pixels wide and 16 pixels high. Then for Windows users, install a free program called Paint.net and also the RGB565 plug-in (http://bit.ly/LOuTBW) for Paint.net. Then import your file into Paint.net and save in the RGB565 format, your file will then have an .rgb565 extension which you can then copy into the /res/raw folder and then use in your modified code. Follow these instructions: http://bit.ly/IUbBKE to setup your Eclipse development environment. Then youll need to import the IOIO libraries into your Eclipse environment that are in the custom firmware download (http://bit.ly/K2w9gm). Ytai, the creator of IOIO, was kind enough to write a custom library to interface IOIO with this particular hardware LED matrix but you can only get this library in the custom firmware download (http://bit.ly/K2w9gm) so be sure and not skip this step, otherwise your source will not compile.

Saving your graphics as .rgb565 files from the Paint.net program