Barco adds Magic to Science Education at ECSITE Annual Conference
From ideas to completion: an invitation for Science Centers to partner for “ecsiting” exhibit development. Barco showcases “Magic Y™” at the ECSITE Annual Conference from 14 till 16 November at The Millennium Conference Centre in South Kensington, London UK.
The way people look at leisure time opportunities is changing all over the globe. Different spending patterns, more discriminating consuming choices, and a particularly critical spirit, challenge museums, science centers, aquariums, planetariums, theme parks and leisure centers to continuously renew and adapt their offer.
From brainstorming to development, coordination and installation on site, Barco E&E - together with dedicated content development partners - offers innovative solutions to the Science Center Community by making creative use of state-of-the-art projection technology. These concepts and realizations empower science centers to excel in their important role of providing a fun environment for informal science learning.
The "Magic-Y Installation™” that Barco showcases at the ECSITE Annual Conference is an example of one of these innovative concepts. Children, families and school groups are confronted with two worlds depicted in large-size screens: a world of chaos on the left hand screen and a new world under construction on the right hand screen. A magic stick, called “Magic-Y™”, allows participants to grab hold of objects out of the chaos in random movement, and move them across to the right hand screen to build the structures they need. To be successful all participants have to collaborate and solve together the challenges of an exciting science or mathematics related riddle.
Participants can play different roles, there is the “master of chaos”, the “builder” and a number of other actors interpreting and acting upon a variety of clues provided by the system. Actions required on the screen may be triggered by activities of the participants: e.g. by jumping back and forth on the floor or by other movements according to a prescribed pattern. This engaging activity facilitates group interaction and promotes open-ended problem solving.
By simply running another contents set, new environments and new challenges emerge. Barco's "Magic-Y Installation™” can be used, for example, to "Build a Universe". Actors can pick up elements from surrounding screens and build their own Universe along with their friends. Watch out not to put too many Planets: your Universe may cave in! One has to be careful with the balance that rules all things. All participants become part of the grand illusion - it's great fun.
Partners involved in the development of the “Magic-Y™” contents library at present are Imagination, a spin-off of the Technical University of Vienna (Austria), Alterface, a communications and remote sensing laboratory in Louvain-La-Neuve (Belgium) and Z.A.Production, a French based producer and facilities provider specialized in 3D computer grahpics.
The "Magic-Y Installation™” at the ECSITE Annual Conference comprises two rear-projection screens of 188 by 150 cm (74 by 59.2 inch) each powered by a BarcoReality SIM 6 LCD projector, a custom designed controller and a number of “Magic-Y™” sticks. Each software program runs on two linked computers.
Concept drawings by Alex Fucikovsky
Barco Innovation Partner Program
With a spirit of fostering innovation, Barco invites Science Centers and Planetariums to study possible avenues of collaboration by applying to the "Barco Innovation Partner Program". When an agreement is reached, members of the Barco BIP Program benefit from a matching-funds scheme to finance their projects. To be funded through the BIP program, all projects must exhibit an innovation factor of at least 30 percent, that is, 30 cents of investment on innovation and prototyping, for each dollar or euro invested on product line systems from Barco or Barco Consortium vendors.
The “Barco Innovation Partner” (BIP) program aims to explore a new range of use of the state-of-the-art technologies that shift the focus from mere “showing” to memorable “immersing” and, even more desirable, that facilitate “group interaction” among visitors. The BIP program is open to all members of the Science Museum and Planetarium community worldwide, with a limit to a maximum of 20 organizations.
Barco Background
Barco Simulation Products - a division of Barco nv - develops high-performance visual display products and solutions for Simulators, Virtual and Enhanced Reality and Edutainment & Entertainment applications. Active on a worldwide scale - with main offices in Xenia (Ohio, US) and Kuurne (Belgium) and with sales & support offices in Europe, North & South America, Asia and the Middle East - Barco Simulation Products has gained an international reputation for its customer-driven application engineering and projection system optimization know-how. Drawing upon its expertise in projection technologies, color calibration, opto-electronics and mechanics, Barco Simulation Products and its partners provide the solution to meet any Simulation, V&AR and Edutainment & Entertainment requirement.
