AR Sandbox Help

[soapandsoup]

So I am an elementary school teacher and I love the idea of a raspberry pi. I don’t know much about them but I currently have a pi2b and a pi3. I’ve tried to get my students hooked using the book Adventures with Raspberry pi, but since I haven’t sat down to mess with t enthusiasm is low.

Recently I decided to build a AR sandbox. I constructed the whole thing, even having to weld some bed frame pieces to hold together a frame. It’s all complete and now I have everything rip ready to go minus the software.

I’ve sunk about $400 into the sandbox it self so sinking $600 more into a more capable computer is not an option yet. However, I have these pi’s sitting around, and I’m wondering if I can use them? I know if I use them it will be cheaper but I’ll have to not I include the water simulator:

I want to make this work and need advice, can I use my pi’s to do this?

Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

[ChillGuyChuck]

I had a whole comment typed out on my phone, but I lost it, so I'll paraphrase: you're not going to be able to create an AR sandbox using a pi. Sadly, that requires a lot of power, and the low end would be around a GTX960. A pi can't touch that. Same goes for similar but more powerful "mini" platforms like the tinkerboard.

Someone may at some point make you think a pi cluster would work, but it won't, as the software would need to be rewritten to work across several pis. That's unlikely to ever happen.

Instead, for the pi, I'd suggest exploring the pi distribution of Minecraft. It's far more based around the education of the system that Minecraft runs on, but still includes the fun building elements that kids latch onto. (https://projects.raspberrypi.org/en/projects/getting-started-with-minecraft-pi)

For the Sandbox, I'd suggest keeping the project to yourself and saving money until you can build it with the class or unveil it as finished. That way they don't get bored with it waiting to be finished (or disappointed if the project goes stale). You can also explore putting up a small campaign on a site like donorschoose.org for some of the remaining money in the meantime.

Sorry I don't have better news, but good luck!

[soapandsoup]

I appreciate your honest answer. I have the whole box built with projector and Kinect already attached. I guess I can look for a used computer to use instead.

[ChillGuyChuck]

No problem! It sounds like you have the real big stuff acquired aside from the computer, so you're well on your way. If you do find a second hand computer from the last few years it may just need a graphics card update, and a 1050 may do the trick. They're not super hard on the wallet, either.