A talking mirror that hypes you up when you try on clothes

Smart Mirrors

You’ve chosen to imagine a mirror that cheers you on while you try new looks. You might want to learn more about smart mirrors, which can show digital styles and give personalized suggestions. Just remember: your mirror can suggest the sparkly hat, but you get the final say!

Fun Facts:

People were using mirrors for getting dressed thousands of years before digital screens existed. Ancient Greek mirrors were important tools for hairstyling.
MemoMi smart mirrors can show different clothing colors and patterns without changing clothes.
L’Oréal’s virtual try-on tools can place hundreds of makeup colors onto your face digitally.

Smart Mirrors

LISTEN

This scenario explores smart mirrors, which mix mirrors with digital tools. They can help us explore looks before we choose them. Some can add virtual clothes, colors, or accessories to our reflection. Future mirrors could also learn what styles we enjoy. But we still decide what makes us feel most like ourselves. So just remember: your mirror can suggest the sparkly hat, but you get the final say!

Fun Facts:

Some old East Asian bronze mirrors can project a hidden picture onto a wall when bright light reflects from them. One Japanese mirror at the Metropolitan Museum of Art projects an image of the Buddha Amida.
MemoMi mirrors let shoppers compare clothes without changing outfits each time.
Withings showed a concept mirror called OMNIA that could display information about things like sleep, heart health, and activity.
Researchers tested a mirror called MagicFace that could transform a visitor's reflection into historical Egyptian characters.
L’Oréal has tools that can digitally change your hair color before you dye it.

Discussion Question:

If a smart mirror gives fashion advice, how could we make sure it helps people without making anyone feel bad?

LISTEN

Physical Build:

Turn a piece of cardboard into your own future hype mirror. Cover the center with foil and add paper buttons around it. Invent different kinds of encouragement your mirror could give, like “Try something new!” or “That looks like YOU!” Add controls that let the person decide what kinds of advice the mirror can give.

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Digital Build:

With an adult, ask ChatGPT:

“Invent a friendly smart mirror that helps kids explore their own fashion style.”

Choose your favorite features from the answer. Then draw your mirror and add buttons showing what each feature does.

or a sort of creepy talking mannequin that gives you fashion advice?

Fashion Mannequin

Humanoid Robots

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You’ve chosen to imagine a fashion mannequin that comes alive and helps you choose clothes. You might want to learn more about humanoid robots, machines built to move or interact in human-like ways. Just try not to get creeped out every time the mannequin starts talking!

Fun Facts:

Pepper is a four-foot-tall humanoid robot designed to interact with people using speech, gestures, and a screen. In Tokyo in 2017, Pepper robots modeled real outfits in a fashion show just for robots.
More than 250 years ago, Pierre Jaquet-Droz built a mechanical boy that could dip a pen in ink and write on paper.
NASA's Robonaut 2 was the first humanoid robot in space in 2011.

Humanoid Robots

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We’re learning more about humanoid robots, machines shaped to interact somewhat like people. Some can talk, gesture, recognize faces, or work with us. Researchers have even studied humanoid robots as helpers in clothing stores. A future mannequin might move, answer questions, and suggest outfits. But its advice should help us explore, not choose for us. Just try not to get creeped out every time the mannequin starts talking!

Fun Facts:

In the 1770s, Swiss makers built amazing human-shaped machines called automata. One surviving mechanical boy can actually write words with a pen and ink.
In 1939, Elektro the robot amazed crowds at the New York World’s Fair by talking, walking, and moving his arms. He even had a robot dog named Sparko that could bark and wag
NASA's Robonaut 2 became the first humanoid robot in space when it traveled to the International Space Station aboard Discovery in 2011.
In 2017, Tokyo held the Pepper Collection, a fashion contest for robot clothes. The outfits included a nurse uniform and an airport concierge uniform.
Researchers have studied robotic mannequins made specifically for fashion stores. One project called RoMa explored a mannequin that could move and interact with shoppers instead of standing still.

Discussion Question:

If mannequins could walk and talk in every clothing store, how might shopping change?

LISTEN

Physical Build:

Make your own moving fashion mannequin using cardboard, paper fasteners, scraps of fabric, and markers. Connect its arms and legs so they can move. Design several outfits and invent one helpful robot feature, such as a style-question button or a spinning accessory tray.

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Digital Build:

With an adult, ask ChatGPT:

“Design a friendly robot fashion mannequin that helps people discover their own style.”

Decide which ideas you would keep, change, or remove. Then draw your own version and create three very different outfits for it to recommend.