Augmented Reality Sandbox

Location

Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science (CAR/076) - First Floor Hallway 3

The Augmented Reality (AR) Sandbox is an interactive visualization system that allows users to create and manipulate 3D topographic maps. The system is comprised of a sandbox, a 3D digital camera, and a high-resolution color projector. The camera registers the 3D shape of the sand surface and custom software projects a topographic map on the sand with colors and contour lines reflecting the surface shape. The system operates in real-time, so moving the sand around produces instantaneous changes in the topographic map. In addition, holding a hand above the sand surface causes the software to produce "rain" which runs down the slopes and fills in the valleys forming "lakes". The AR Sandbox is an advanced display system that demonstrates the capabilities of projector-camera systems that can both sense properties of the world and augment them with visual content. On top of that it's super fun.