“It’s addictive!” 13-year-old Jan is absolutely certain of that. He’s in seventh grade and is visiting this year’s KONVENT’A—the 17th Upper Lusatia Trade and Exhibition Fair—with his parents and numerous other visitors. The event took place April 28–29 at the Löbau Exhibition Hall. The fair is regarded as an innovative exhibition and networking platform for skilled trades, education, services, leisure, and tourism. The presentation by the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences was also innovative on both days.

Even though the exhibition space was significantly smaller than in previous years due to a special exhibition by the city of Luban, the ten square meters available were filled with a lot of energy and a great selection of offerings for young and old alike. The only “highs and lows” were related to the main exhibit they brought along—a so-called augmented reality sandbox, provided by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

“We need something like this for geography class,” says Jan, a student, excitedly. With both hands, he joyfully digs and sifts through the sandbox, which reaches up to his hips. The best part? Red, orange, beige, green, and blue rings and abstract shapes crisscross the sand. Wherever he piles up sandcastles, the red areas on the peaks reveal the heights of these self-made mountains. The deep sand trenches, which represent the valleys with their small lakes or rivers, are colored blue. With a single hand gesture, such a valley can be transformed back into an orange-colored hill.

An infrared camera mounted above the sandbox makes this possible. “It captures a snapshot, from which a value is calculated by the connected computer and converted into an image that is projected onto the sand,” explains Marco Hartmann. He is a student scout for the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and, together with Egmont Schreiter, has adapted an open-source blueprint for Zittau, which enables this wondrous, motion-responsive sand coloring. “First, you have to set the zero line. The positive and negative ranges then produce the different color schemes. This results in the various colored elevation and depth patterns. This is a great way to illustrate different elevations.”

Whether elementary school students, prospective HSZG students, their parents, or grandparents—people of all ages were fascinated by the possibility of creating their own landscapes and entire mountain ranges. “You can even make it rain,” explains Marco Hartmann. Outstretched palms held above the sandbox are interpreted by the camera as a cloud. Raindrops are generated and turn the sand area beneath the hand movements blue.

But it’s not just about how good it looks. Many interested visitors asked what else you can do with it besides playing games. Marco Hartmann comments: “If you take the idea further, a great deal is possible with sufficient, high-performance technology. I’m thinking of the wide range of applications for measuring elevation profiles, such as terrain surveys or atmospheric simulations. For example, to answer questions like: How does a water flow behave when elevation conditions change? There are many potential applications.”

In the end, all visitors to the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences booth were convinced of this. In addition to the sandbox, fair attendees learned about study opportunities at HSZG, tried their hand at the “ExperiMINTe” games on the touchscreen, and enjoyed small souvenirs such as balloons and pin buttons.

A big thank you goes out to everyone who helped support the Public Relations Office this weekend, especially to Egmont Schreiter and his team from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science for designing and providing the augmented reality sandbox. More than just “interesting sand”—it was a real eye-catcher.

Text: Cornelia Rothe, M.A.

Photos: Christiane Matthieu, M.A.

Cover photo: Marco Hartmann