Philips Lumec Custom Products Designer Jean-François Duquette explores how lights can enhance interactive models and displays in this blog entry.

This summer, I was playing on the beach in the sand with my nephew and it made me remember what I had done with my cousins when I was young. We would build castles with creeks that would go all the way to the water and with each wave they would fill the moats. We would imagine different types of scenarios.

The University of California, Davis imagined all the same things and more when they created their interactive sandbox. A sensor detects the topography of the sand and a light projector creates patterns with colors on it with a software program. With a change in the topography the projector modifies the light color to create the effect of water running down the mountain and another color change in lights transforms the water to lava.

The University of California, Davis interactive sandbox transforms into different colors. (Photo Courtesy of Philips Lumec)

Being able to change the water to lava pushes my experiences from when I was young from imagination to a visual reality. A collateral effect is children will learn while playing.

The process is simple. They are basically using an environment and lights to teach, amuse and feed children’s imagination with what they call augmented reality.

Another version of using light to augment an experience is the Syfy app with Philips Hue. The lights are choreographed in sync with a movie to enhance the experiences by changing the colors of the lights to match the movie. This will transform your living room into an integral part of the movie experience.

Interactive lights, choreographed lights…what’s next?

We’re a long way from when I was young flicking light switches on and off to music…