Mechanical Mirror

Sammanfattning: This bachelor thesis aims to present an overview of the performed steps to construct and program a prototype of a mechanical mirror. The idea of a mechanical mirror is that a camera captures an image that is translated into pixels of different brightness values. The brightness values are later displayed by metal plates, acting as pixels, rotated to different angles to reflect a corresponding light from a lamp. The pixels together shape grayscale images based on the frames captured by the camera. A prototype was constructed successfully. Tests showed that its purpose to move according to the captured image was fulfilled although adjustments could be made for the light to reach all the pixels to a greater extent. The angle span for the pixels turned out to be between 32°and 44°, which proved sufficient for their purpose. The reason for a difference in angle spans between the pixels was due to minor construction errors and was not an issue of functionality for the mirror. The refresh rate of the mirror, which could be described as the frequency at which the pixels rotate and shape an image, was set to 25 frames per second. This allowed the mirror to mimic movements in front of it without much delay while not exceeding the frame rate of the camera, which capture at a frame rate of 30 frames per second. The camera was therefore the vital limitation for the refresh rate of the mirror.