A new piece of technology has made its debut at East Carolina University and is changing an entire school’s curriculum. The device is called the Augmented Reality Sandbox (ARS).

The ARS is a combination of machines and software which projects color-coordinated, topographic lines onto a sand surface in real time. Integrated within the machine is a powerful simulation processor, highly algorithmic software, an LCD projector and, strangely enough, an Xbox Kinect 3D camera.

“This device has got us all really excited,” said Terri Woods, an associate professor who has been working in ECU’s geology department for 25 years and taught everything from entry-level courses for freshmen to graduate school research programs. Woods, along with the department head of the college, spearheaded the movement to create a sandbox for ECU.

According to Terri Woods, the mechanics of the device are straightforward.

“The camera just collects the image and feeds it to the computer, where the software and algorithms create the colors and contour lines which are then projected back onto the sand,” said Terri Woods.

John Woods, a university lab technician, was placed in charge of constructing the device which included crafting the literal sandbox and the overhead arch which would hold the projector and camera. As for the software, ECU professors did not need to develop their own version because it was already available for free on the web.

“The software was created by Oliver Kreylos, a faculty member from UC-Davis [using] Linux open-source software,” said John Woods. “He wanted to make this available to other people because he recognized the need others had to understand the concept.”

Linux is a free and open source operating system, which means that all users have the freedom to use, share, see and modify any software which gets added to its database. The software for the ARS was placed on this type of platform.

“As long you don’t abuse the privilege, anybody can reproduce and sell it,” said John Woods.

According to Terri Woods, there are only a couple dozen of these devices in operation around the world. Most are used in interactive science museums, but some are effectively utilized for formal education at universities to explain complicated geological concepts.

“The device explains the concept of contour lines,” said Terri Woods. “Most students who take the intro class never see anything more than lines on paper. They get no concept of the three-dimensional picture it’s supposed to convey.”

Propositions have been made for the device to simulate real-world topographies such as the Outer Banks.

According to Terri Woods, with the use of the water simulation feature available within the software, a real-time simulation could be created to better understand which regions are more susceptible to flooding which could in-turn lead to a better warning system during natural disasters such as hurricanes.

John Woods said that the only downside to the device is that it has only been in the public eye for a short time and users haven’t had the time to simply “play with it” yet.

“There’s just not that many around, but people are always realizing more and more things you can do with it,” said John Woods.

The ECU department of geological sciences currently holds two operating ARS devices within the Graham building available to all prospective and current geology students.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.