These Raspberry Pi-Powered Smart Blinds Use Facial Detection to Open and Close

Unless you’re fairly paranoid, you assume that you are watching your computer monitor, not the other way around. But perhaps these screens…

Hackster Staff
7 years ago

Unless you’re fairly paranoid, you assume that you are watching your computer monitor, not the other way around. But perhaps these screens would like a little privacy once in a while, too?

To cut off viewing, Siraj Raval and Etan Zapinsky came up with a system that uses a Raspberry Pi and a Pi Camera Module, along with OpenCV for facial recognition, to close a venetian blind in front of a display whenever a face is present.

The goal of the work is to question how we interact with technology. Is looking at our screens similar to looking through windows? What permission do we have to look through these windows? Who is controlling what we see through these screens? What happens if the screens react to our presence?

The Pi employs a small servo to control the blind’s turning mechanism when needed, giving the screen a break from being stared at. Maybe the screen doesn’t care much about this, but the concept — which the duo goes over in some detail in their video below — could have other interesting applications… such as opening when you approach your window.

Code and instructions for this project can be found on GitHub.

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