Augmented Reality Sandbox

I prototyped it in my garage using an old computer, a borrowed projector and an Xbox Kinect. I used zipties and a bungee cord to mount the projector on a single pole, and a beige bath towel for the sand. It worked, and was fun to play with, but I wasn’t always thinking about it being used by Kindergarteners! When I started buying supplies, I trended towards affordable, rather than the best methods... Namely, the projector. An $800 BENQ short-throw projector would allow for a much more stable and compact infrastructure than the $60, long-throw projector I ended up with. However, I splurged on the $350 graphics card to run the water-flow simulations.