A virtual world

 D-NH Robotics Club students create augmented reality sandbox to teach geography
DIKE – With the help of a new augmented reality sandbox the Dike-New Hartford Robotics Club is constructing, students will soon be able to use technology to explore geography, topography, weather and more in an immersive, virtual setting.
The sandbox that students are currently working on will consist of an elevated box filled with fine, highly reflective, white sand. Then, high-tech computer software will scan the sandbox and feed the data into a computer, which will project a topographic map onto the sand.
Through colors and lines, the map shows elevations; with a mountain peak appearing in red while the lower elevations are shown as cooler colors, and water is shown in blue. If you bulldoze a mountain, the software automatically picks up on the changes and re-configures a new map with new elevations. By putting a hand in front of the projector, students can create a cloud on the map, generating rain.
With this technology, students will be able to harness the full force of nature to create mountains, then move them; create deserts, then make it rain; create islands, then sink them.
Joanna Seymour, technology director and Robotics Club instructor at D-NH, says the students had the idea for the project on their own, and they were able to purchase the supplies needed to make it after receiving a grant from the Grundy County Community Foundation.
 “I think everyone realized this would be a nice extension to our STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) toolkit here at Dike-New Hartford,” she said. “We’re always trying to grow in that area.”
For the full story, see this week's Grundy Register.