Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
8 Facial Quantum Matching Mirror
 Akhil Morisetty
Alex Cheng
Ethan Zhang
 Wesley Pang design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
presentation1.pptx
proposal1.pdf
video1.mp4
 Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park.
# Facial Quantum Matching Mirror

Team Members:
- Akhil Morisetty (akhilm6)
- Alex Cheng (xueruic2 )
- Ethan Zhang (ethanjz2)

# Problem

Describe the problem you want to solve and motivate the need.
Chicago is spending 500 million dollars investing in the development of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park. Professor Kwait is looking for a viable prototype of a Facial Quantum Matching Mirror that he can show investors to persuade them into creating a more expensive and museum-ready version. Our task is to create a visually appealing and functioning prototype that Professor Kwait can show to investors to eventually add to the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park.

# Solution

We propose a Facial Quantum Matching Mirror, an interactive display device that uses a one-way mirror and facial recognition to reflect a user’s likeness matched with well-known figures in selected categories such as engineers, scientists, or entrepreneurs. When the display is illuminated, the one-way mirror becomes transparent, allowing the user to see the matched character overlaid behind the glass. This creates the illusion that the user is “face-to-face” with a figure who resembles them, combining reflection, computation, and visual storytelling in a single interactive experience.
The system consists of a one-way mirror, a display panel of equal size mounted behind the mirror, a surrounding LED light ring, a camera, local storage, a microcontroller, and a user input button, all integrated within a single frame. When the system is idle, the display remains dark, causing the mirror to behave as a reflective surface so the user sees only their own reflection.

Upon pressing the button, the user selects a category and the system is activated. The microcontroller triggers visual feedback through the LED ring and commands the camera to capture an image of the user. This image is processed by the facial recognition backend, which identifies the most visually similar individual from the selected category. The result index is returned to the microcontroller, which retrieves the corresponding image from local storage and displays it on the screen.


# Solution Components

## Subsystem 1: Display Unit
This subsystem serves as the presentation and capture layer of the smart mirror. It uses an onboard camera to capture a photo of the person standing in front of the mirror, and a monitor behind a two-way mirror to render the user experience (UI prompts, loading screens, images, and optional video). During idle mode, the monitor remains black so the mirror looks fully reflective like a normal mirror. When the user presses the start button, the display transitions to a loading interface while the backend subsystems process the captured image and return a match. Once processing completes, the monitor displays the selected quantum scientist/engineer/entrepreneur (and any associated content), giving the mirror the appearance of an interactive digital mirror.

Components:
- 18’’ x 24’’ Wooden Picture Frame
- SANSUI 24” 100Hz PC Monitor
- 18” x 24” Glass Mirror
- 18” x 24” 50% Reflective Film

## Subsystem 2: LED Sensor Unit
This subsystem focuses on providing visual feedback to the participant throughout the interaction process. The LED Sensor Unit is activated after the participant presses the startup button and indicates that the system is processing the facial scan and matching operation. The LEDs will flash in a predefined pattern to signal that the system is active and working.
The LED Sensor Unit receives control signals from the system microcontroller and remains active until an “off” signal is sent by the display subsystem or system controller, indicating that the matched image or video has finished displaying. Once the off signal is received, the LEDs are turned off and the system returns to an idle state. The LED lights are mounted around the frame of the mirror to ensure high visibility and to enhance the overall user experience.

Components:
- Addressable LED strip: SEZO WS2812B ECO LED Strip Light

## Subsystem 3: Startup Button
This subsystem focuses on the start of the entire process for the project. The participant begins the process of using the mirror by choosing options from a set of buttons available to them. The participant will have the option of selecting the quantum category that they want, and starting the camera/scan process with another button. The participant has the control for when they are interested in and when they start the process. The button will be stationed next to where the participant will stand and have wires connected to the microcontroller subsystem.

Components:
- Button: 2x16 LCD Display with Controller

## Subsystem 4: System Microcontroller

The system microcontroller organizes and communicates between all the other subsystems in the project. All of the logic and transmission of data is handled by this subsystem. Moreover, the software component of the projects sends data back and forth between the microcontroller and itself. The system microcontroller is the overarching subsystem in the project, which essentially plays a role in every component of the solution.

Components:
- Microcontroller: ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16


# Criterion For Success

- Participants are able to select the category they are interested in to find a match for.
- Be able to accurately match the participant to a person in the topic the participant has selected: Accuracy should be at 75%
- After match has been found a personal video is displayed from the match
- Device does not start until participant steps on to pressure plate
- The led surrounding should be on after the user press the button and before the character image disappear
- The image on the monitor should be showing for up to 15 seconds, and then turn back to the black screen.

Mushroom Growing Tent

Elizabeth Boyer, Cameron Fuller, Dylan Greenhagen

Mushroom Growing Tent

Featured Project

# Mushroom Growing Tent Project

Team Members:

- Elizabeth Boyer (eboyer2)

- Cameron Fuller (chf5)

- Dylan Greenhagen (dylancg2)

# Problem

Many people want to grow mushrooms in their own homes to experiment with safe cooking recipes, rather than relying on risky seasonal foraging, expensive trips to the store, or time and labor-intensive DIY growing methods. However, living in remote areas, specific environments, or not having the experience makes growing your own mushrooms difficult, as well as dangerous. Without proper conditions and set-up, there are fire, electrical, and health risks.

# Solution

We would like to build a mushroom tent with humidity and temperature sensors that could monitor the internal temperature and humidity, and heating, and humidity systems to match user settings continuously. There would be a visual interface to display the current temperature and humidity within the environment. It would be medium-sized (around 6 sq ft) and able to grow several batches at a time, with more success and less risk than relying on a DIY mushroom tent.

Some solutions to home-grown mushroom automation already exist. However, there is not yet a solution that encompasses all problems we have outlined. Some solutions are too small of a scale, so they don’t have the heating/cooling power for a larger scale solution. Therefore, it’s not enough to yield consistent batches. Additionally, there are solutions that give you a heater, a light set, and a humidifier, but it’s up to the user to juggle all of these modules. These can be difficult to balance and keep an eye on, but also dangerous if the user does not have experience. Spores can get released, heaters can overheat, and bacteria and mold can grow. Our solution offers an all-in-one, simple, user-friendly environment to bulk growing.

# Solution Components

## Control Unit and User Interface

The control unit and user interface are grouped together because the microcontroller is central to the design of both, and they are closely linked in function.

The user interface will involve a display that shows measured or set values for different conditions (temperature, humidity, etc) on a display, such as an LCD display, and the user will have buttons and/or knobs that allow the user to change values.

The control unit will be centered around a microcontroller on our PCB with circuitry to connect to the other subsystems.

Parts List:

1x Microcontroller

1x PCB, including small buttons and/or knobs, power circuitry

1x Display module

1x Power supply

## Temperature Sensing and Control

The temperature sensing and control components will ensure that the grow box stays at the desired temperature that promotes optimal growth. The system will include one temperature sensor that will record the current temperature of the box and feed a data output back into our PCB. From here, the microcontroller in our control unit will read the data received and send the necessary adjustments to a Peltier module. The Peltier module will be able to increase the temperature of the box according to the current temperature of the box and set temperature. Cooling will not be required, as maintaining a minimum temperature is more important than a maximum temperature for growth.

Parts List:

1x Temperature Sensor

1x Peltier module

## Humidity Sensing and Control

The humidity sensing and control system will work in a similar way to the temperature system, only with different ways to adjust the value. We will have one humidity sensor that will be continually sending data to our PCB. From here, the PCB will determine whether the current value is where it should be, or whether adjustments need to be made. If an increase in humidity is needed, the PCB will send a signal to our misting system which will activate. If a decrease is needed, a signal will be sent to our air cycling system to increase the rate of cycling, thereby decreasing the humidity within the box.

Parts List:

1x Humidity Sensor

4x Misting heads

Water tubing as needed

## Air Quality Control

The air filtration system is run constantly, as healthy mushroom growth (free of bacteria) needs clean, fresh air, and mycelium requires and uses up oxygen as it grows. Additionally, this unit is connected to the hydration sensing unit- external humidity is in most cases going to be lower than internal humidity, and cycling in new air can be used to decrease humidity. When high humidity is detected, the air filtration system will decrease the internal humidity by cycling in less humid air.

Parts List:

Flexible Air duct length as needed

1x Fan for promoting air cycling

# Criteria For Success

Our demo will show that each of our subsystems functions as expected and described below:

For the control unit and user interface, we will demonstrate that the user can change the set temperature and humidity values through buttons or knobs.

The humidity sensing and control system’s functionality will demonstrate that introducing dry air into the device activates the misting system, which requires functional sensors and a water pump.

The temperature sensing and control system demo will involve showing that the heater turns on when the measured temperature is below the set temperature.

The air quality control system’s success will be demonstrated as air movement coming from the fan enters the tent.

Project Videos