--- title: How To Use Tiny Open Loop Actuators For A Living Mirror description: A maker built a 128-segment living mirror using inexpensive mini-actuators from AliExpress, similar to those in Oppo smartphone pop-up cameras. The design... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-tiny-open-loop-actuators-for-a-living-mirror-y1qmgvmym twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How To Use Tiny Open Loop Actuators For A Living Mirror | daily.dev og:description: A maker built a 128-segment living mirror using inexpensive mini-actuators from AliExpress, similar to those in Oppo smartphone pop-up cameras. The design... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-tiny-open-loop-actuators-for-a-living-mirror-y1qmgvmym og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Y1QmGVmym.png og:image:alt: How To Use Tiny Open Loop Actuators For A Living Mirror og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How To Use Tiny Open Loop Actuators For A Living Mirror **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A maker built a 128-segment living mirror using inexpensive mini-actuators from AliExpress, similar to those in Oppo smartphone pop-up cameras. The design mirrors DLP projector technology but at macro scale, with each stepper-based actuator controlling individual mirror segments. The main technical challenge involved calibrating these open-loop linear motors by zeroing them against end limits and counting steps, similar to 3D printer steppers. At 4 meters distance, the mirrors can cover 73mm of movement with up to 8mm actuator travel. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Someone used four LED strips to create a 'screen' by spinning them around really quickly](https://daily.dev/posts/someone-used-four-led-strips-to-create-a-screen-by-spinning-them-around-really-quickly-9bf2bwvxw) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Tiny Moves, Big Depth: An Open-Source Macro Focus Slider](https://daily.dev/posts/tiny-moves-big-depth-an-open-source-macro-focus-slider-ngogipysn) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robotic lab sets up and runs optics experiments on demand](https://daily.dev/posts/robotic-lab-sets-up-and-runs-optics-experiments-on-demand-2usto3skc) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Building An Actuator For A Walking Robot](https://daily.dev/posts/building-an-actuator-for-a-walking-robot-jox2ouan5) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded), [#hardware](https://daily.dev/tags/hardware) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-tiny-open-loop-actuators-for-a-living-mirror-y1qmgvmym) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How To Use Tiny Open Loop Actuators For A Living Mirror","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-tiny-open-loop-actuators-for-a-living-mirror-y1qmgvmym","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-tiny-open-loop-actuators-for-a-living-mirror-y1qmgvmym"},"datePublished":"2026-01-19T21:32:10.307Z","dateModified":"2026-03-15T05:23:48.650Z","description":"A maker built a 128-segment living mirror using inexpensive mini-actuators from AliExpress, similar to those in Oppo smartphone pop-up cameras. 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