We’ve covered interesting maker projects in the past involving mirrors, but never one using an Arduino and certainly not this mesmerising.

Those past projects were smart mirrors – one based on a Raspberry Pi and the other on a tablet conversion. Instead of taking information and overlaying it on a mirror, this “kaleidoscope infinity mirror” is just for show.

Infinity mirrors have been around for a while and guides to make them are abundant at this point. This project is different in the way it uses the LEDs which create the illusion that the mirror is infinite. Instead of being stationary, the lights will move and change colour when the frame is tilted.

The electronics inside of the mirror are rather basic. A strip of LEDs, an Arduino 101 and a battery pack are all you need. The 101’s internal accelerometer and gyroscope can sense tilting, and it puts on a light show in response.

Everything you need to make one of these, including a guide and the code for the Arduino can be found on hackster.io.

We can think of a few extensions to this project that would make it even better. A wall mount that can automatically tilt the frame using internal motors or a robotic arm could activate the kaleidoscope effect without any human interaction. A creepy addition to that could be a camera that tracks eye movement and moves the frame when you look at it.