Paper Cubes

Augmented reality (AR) is an explanatory medium that takes advantage of the physical space, objects and surfaces. It gives us the opportunity to create interfaces to better understand what AI does in a visual and spatial manner.

Paper Cubes [1] and HyperCubes were created to teach basic computational skills as well as more advanced programming concepts such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) using AR in a more visual and engaging way. This workshop is intended to teach computational thinking skills and machine learning concepts to children using these DIY Augmented Reality tools. Paper Cubes and HyperCubes are two AR applications that help children in understanding complex behavioral concepts by building, creating and having fun. With just some paper, scissors, glue, and a phone; they can explore how to make the physical world augment the digital one. Basic behaviors involve simple commands to control a character with the physical cubes such as turn, split, jump, etc. More advanced behaviors teach ML concepts such as having a Neural Network to make the characters smarter over time using an evolution strategy with the AI paper cube. Children between 7-12 years old will be able to build their own cube patterns. Once they have the paper patterns, they can play with the AR applications using the cubes they built, to control the digital content in space and learn about the different behaviors and algorithms. The workshop objectives are:

• Engage in a DIY origami activity making physical cubes with paper.
• Learn basic computational concepts used for coding such as basic control commands (turn, jump, split, etc) making use of space in Augmented Reality.
• Learn more advanced concepts such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence Algorithms visualizing RNNs making use of space in Augmented Reality.
• Build, create and have fun!

[1] Fusté, Anna, Amores, Judith & Google Creative Lab. (2017). Paper Cubes Google AR Experiments.

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