Interactive Magic Mirror with Candy Dispenser

For Halloween 2012 I created an interactive Magic Mirror. The Magic Mirror has a sonar (PING)))) sensor that detects when kids are are close. Then the mirror says a few random phrases and automatically drops candy to the bucket. I repurposed my Automatic Candy Dispenser from two years ago. The PING))) sensor, fog and red lights are controlled by an Arduino.

You can text "say [your name]" to a SMS short code and the Magic Mirror will say your name, drop candy, take a Dropcam snapshot and send it back to your mobile phone (MMS). The SMS/MMS capability was handled by an awesome API from Mogreet, that makes MMS really easy to use. The Magic Mirror can also be controlled by a PHP web application hosted on Apache2 in the Mac Mini.

The Mirror Mirror software is made by the folks at ImaginEERIEing and I bought it two years ago. Last year I used it to do an interactive photobooth (which sadly I did not document!). I highly recommend it. You can get a free version but the $15 version is much nicer and pretty affordable.

Now, before you go dismissing this project as a simple copy of previous (and great) Instructables like DIY Magic Mirror and others that use the same software. Please consider the interactive features such as the SMS and candy dispenser. And ultimately I hope to provide inspiration for similar and improved mirrors!