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If you happen to catch students and faculty playing in a sandbox in Copernicus Hall any time soon, don’t be alarmed.
The physical sandbox is only part of the equation. When you add a 3D camera, a projector, and some software, that sandbox becomes a small world in which geologic concepts come to life.
The device is known as an augmented reality sandbox. Developed at University of California, Davis, an AR sandbox creates dynamic topography models meant to better illustrate geographic, geologic, and hydrologic concepts and scenarios. As users handle the physical sand, companion software, a Microsoft Kinect, and a digital data projector augment the mini landscape in real time with colors to mark elevation levels, topographic contour lines, and simulated water, according to a UC Davis web page.
So, if a user digs a hole in the sandbox environment, the computer and cameras immediately adjust the color of the affected area and display the resulting depression accordingly. Fill in the depression again, and it changes color and its contour lines adjust with the swoop of the user’s hand. (Depressions are projected in blue; a higher peak will be rendered in a burnt umber shade with a gradation in color between highs and lows.) Want to see how rain or lava affect a given landscape? Hold up a hand just so, and the virtual weather will change.
Central Geology lecturer Gary Gomby heard discussion of the device at a geoscience teachers’ conference last summer and started asking colleagues around the country about its applications and logistics. The sandbox struck him as a useful way to address common roadblocks for many students.
“Most people in general have a lot of difficulty with envisioning three-dimensional objects, and that’s what geology and a lot of other physical sciences is all about,” he explains.
The ability to make the mental leap between 2D and 3D becomes particularly important when reading and interpreting topographic maps. A sandbox-generated tactile “map,” Gomby suggests, could facilitate that leap more efficiently.
Citing the necessity of strong spatial reasoning among earth sciences students, Gomby successfully applied for grant money to install an AR sandbox at Central, with support from Department Chair Mark Evans and Rod Waterman, director of the Grants & Funded Research Department. Central’s is one of two AR sandboxes in use in Connecticut, according to UC Davis.
With the assistance of Peter Galimitakis, a senior research technician for Geological Sciences and Physics, and Physics major Matt Scozzafavva, Gomby brought the sandbox online in March. Th e team assembled the sandbox at a fraction of the price of a new rig, thanks to Galimitakis, who used an existing computer and assorted hardware from his workshop to construct a working, portable, perfectly calibrated AR sandbox. According to Galimitakis, calibration is key.
“The dimensions for the sand area of the cart we finished with are 37 by 26 inches, determined primarily by the cart we purchased,” he explains. “Those dimensions also allowed us to design in the proper height (7 feet) to move around the department without needing to reposition the projector each time we moved between rooms. Th e projector is positioned at 37 inches giving us the proper 3.7 by 2.6 video ratio.”
Portability becomes particularly important when you factor in the requisite 200 pounds of sand to fill the box.
Scozzafavva, meanwhile, put in numerous hours to streamline the sandbox’s software and operating system and simplify the commands necessary to, say, make virtual lava or rain flow correctly in the sandbox.
And if a recent demonstration in his Environmental Geoscience Lab is any indicator, Gomby might see more students enrolled in his classes.
As Gomby introduced the sandbox, his students fired off dozens of questions (sprinkled with requests to “make it rain again”) and speculated on other potential applications for the sandbox: could it replicate the terrain of a planet? Would it be useful to environmental engineers? Later, Gomby used the sandbox to demonstrate some of the finer points of a homework assignment.
One student dubbed the device “magical”; another found it “soothing;” many others were “mesmerized” by the changing flow of sand and color.
True enough, but Gomby points to its educational value first.
“It’s a really unique opportunity to involve students in literally a hands-on learning experience,” he says.