Create mesmerizing designs in the sand with this Arduino-controlled Zen table!

A sandbox game generally refers to an open world computer simulation, but Tim Callinan’s fall semester project takes things in a different direction—an actual sandbox controlled by an Arduino and gShield.
Callinan’s Zen table is capable of producing complicated designs in the sand, using a single steel marble that appears to magically move across the surface by itself.

Underneath the sand assembly is a stepper-controlled gantry that acts like a laser cutter or other CNC tool, dragging the marble around with a powerful magnet. The results are stars, rotating squares, and other kaleidoscopic patterns, beautifully edge-lit with a series of RGB LEDs.
Several other classmates were involved in making this build a reality, including Mark Morello, who wired and programmed the device.
December 31st, 2018 at 03:41:49
Absolutely beautiful!
Will you be providing design specifications, instructions and program for this project?
October 18th, 2020 at 19:20:49
I would like to make a table like this, does anyone know where I can get the ide code, I just started doing things with arduino, but creating this code for me is impossible right now, can someone help me? thanks.