5 Useful Raspberry Projects For Your Bedroom
With the Raspberry Pi's versatility, it's not surprising that the board has become a common sight in a diverse range of projects out there. You can find a slew of unusual Raspberry Pi projects in the wild, from piano stairs that musicalize your steps to bird repellants that keep those pesky birds away. This single-board computer is also a favorite in education settings as it's an accessible tool for those learning to code, kids eager to experience hands-on electronics practice, and instructors teaching Linux and basic command-line skills.
Beyond quirky and educational purposes, the Raspberry Pi extends its footprint to household applications too. Some of the more notable ones include security cameras, smart doorbells, and kitchen displays. But the Pi's capabilities aren't just limited to the living room, front door, and kitchen. You can actually make a host of projects for your bedroom as well. Here are five of the best ones to upgrade your bedroom with Pi.
Home intercom
Have you ever found yourself in a scenario where communication within your home felt like a chore? Maybe your mom has to keep going upstairs to summon you for dinner, or you frequently need to step out of your room to check some things with your roommate. It's quite the hassle, isn't it? This is where setting up this DIY home intercom could come in handy. This works like any other intercom out there — you simply push a button and talk, and your message will automatically be played in the other connected intercoms.
This Raspberry Pi home intercom leverages the capabilities of the open-source Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) software, Mumble. The setup involves running a Mumble server on a home server to facilitate communication, while the Mumble clients, which will be the ones sending and receiving messages, are installed in several places. For one, it operates on two Raspberry Pi Zero W boards (though technically, the Mumble client for headless Raspberry Pi use is called Talkiepi). Another Mumble client runs on a PC, so the voice messages can be heard through a headset. There's also an option to use your Android phone as an intercom by simply installing the Plumble app and connecting to the Mumble server.
Hardware requirements for the project are minimal. You'd only need two speakers and two Adafruit Voice Bonnets, one set for each intercom unit. The bonnets already come equipped with a built-in microphone, a push-to-talk button, and a speaker connection port.
Smart mirror
When it comes to providing you with information, your smartphone can do the job just fine. But what about those moments when you're mid-skincare routine at night wondering about tomorrow's weather, or getting ready for work and needing to glance over your agenda for the day? In such cases, fishing out your phone can be somewhat inconvenient.
This smart mirror for your bedroom vanity serves as a more practical solution. The project uses a Raspberry Pi installed with the MagicMirror platform to create a smart mirror that displays information like the date, time, weekly weather, and your upcoming Google Calendar events. It also features an OpenCV-powered face detection that allows the user to sign into a different profile or trigger smart home devices in the house. Beyond displaying information, the smart mirror is designed to be interactive. It comes complete with an infrared touchscreen frame that enables touch functionality and Amazon Alexa that lets users issue voice commands.
The project is highly customizable on the hardware and software ends. The size of the display can be adjusted based on your preferences and the dimensions of the available monitor and IR touchscreen frame. You can also add other types of information on the screen such as news, jokes, stock prices, traffic updates, and train schedules. To build the project, you'd only need five main components: Raspberry Pi (with micro SD card and power supply, of course), Raspberry Pi camera, two-way mirror, monitor with a micro HDMI cable, and infrared touchscreen frame. You can also opt to add LED strips for the background ambient glow.
Rain box
Some people sleep or focus better when listening to ambient noise. If this sounds like you and you particularly find the hum of rain soothing, then this Raspberry Pi Rain Box is the perfect addition to your bedroom. The project features three different rain sound MP3 files. When the Raspberry Pi boots up, a Python script automatically runs in the background and randomly picks one of the sounds to play. You can then adjust the volume using the controller attached to the speaker. The Python code in question is short and straightforward, consisting of only 14 lines and using basic Python functions that even a beginner can understand and modify.
On the hardware front, the Rain Box is a budget-friendly Pi project. Aside from the Raspberry Pi, it utilizes a flip switch to turn the project on or off, a 5V regulator to power the Pi, a speaker (with volume control), a computer fan to cool the regulator, and a 12V AC adapter to power the entire setup. Chances are, you might already have most, if not all, of these components lying around in your workshop.
The project can be personalized to your preferences. You can freely switch the rain sounds for any other white noise you want and add more MP3 files to give it variety. Plus, the Raspberry Pi remains fully functional while the rain sound script is running. This means you can still use it as a desktop.
Alarm clock
You probably don't need another alarm clock to make your day tougher (your phone's alarm app is already annoying as it is). But if you're looking to practice your electronics and programming skills with a project that's straightforward yet practical, an alarm clock is the perfect mix of simplicity and functionality.
This DIY project, which utilizes a Raspberry Pi Pico, a 16x2 LCD display, four push buttons, a real-time clock module, a buzzer, and LED strips, is just like any old standard digital clock. It continuously displays the date and time for you to refer to whenever you like and lets you set an alarm using the buttons. Following the clock's simple design, the buttons work as follows: the first button enters the alarm setting mode, the second and third buttons adjust the hours and minutes (with the hours ranging from 0 to 23 and minutes from 00 to 59), and the fourth button saves your settings. At the scheduled time, the buzzer sounds off, and a pre-set message, "Wake Up!" shows up on the screen (but you can customize the message in the code). You'll need to press the fourth button again to silence the buzzer. Adding a bit more flair, the clock features a colorful LED strip at the base, doubling as a night light.
While the code is quite direct, tweaking it to your liking will require some familiarity with MicroPython. If you find the project too basic, you can also swap the buzzer for a speaker to play MP3 songs instead.
Sunrise lamp
Light has a way of signaling our bodies to wake up, often leaving us in a better mood compared to when woken up by the jarring sound of an alarm clock. But relying on the sun to nudge you awake isn't always doable, especially if you're using blackout curtains, sleeping in a room with no windows or turned away from the sun, or living through winter with little to no sunlight. In such cases, you can just build a sunrise lamp using Raspberry Pi.
This project is pretty straightforward and needs only two main components: a Raspberry Pi Zero W and an Adafruit NeoPixel LED Ring that can produce a wide spectrum of color combinations at varying light intensities. The setup runs on Circuit Python and features two modes that are alternately triggered depending on the schedule. At night, the drift-off mode is activated. It fills the lamp with a calming blue light that gradually dims to serve as a comforting night light. In the morning, the wake-up mode is enabled. It mimics a building sunshine, starting with a soft yellow glow that slowly brightens to full intensity to gently pull you from sleep.
Probably the most complex (and time-consuming) part of the project is the distinctive lamp design, which uses Snapology Origami to create a geodesic sphere entirely from paper without the need for any kind of adhesive.