CircuitAR

screenshot from app

Inspiration

Back in middle school most of our team got the chance to try out Snap Circuits, which gave us the chance to build various circuit machines in a really easy and satisfying manner. However, these are both small and pricey, putting a limit to the creativity that one can express. Our goal here was to use the power of AR to provide an massive, endless experience where people can build to their dreams.

What it does

Our project allows for users to build circuits using various parts, ranging from batteries to wires to speakers. One of our main features is our snapping functionality, which allows wires to instantly connect to nearby wires, making the building process super smooth. Fully functioning circuits will turn on, showing users that they have successfully created a build.

How we built it

Most of our time was spent in Lens Studio, working with the different components within the editor and writing lots of scripts attached to them.

Challenges we ran into

None of us are very experienced in game development or writing in TypeScript, and we were doing tons of it this weekend. It was definitely an experience. It took a pretty long time to get the basic functionality of the game going as well.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

The fact that we have a working app after jumping headfirst into a new technology and field is something we are really proud of. We also had a lot of fun using our program to build circuits throughout the building process, and it is always pretty cool when we can actually enjoy using our app.

What we learned

This was all of our first big experience in AR, and we definitely learned a lot about working with the technology and the different strengths of it that we can utilize. We also learned a lot about using version control and how we shouldn't all push our code at the same time.

What's next for CircuitAR

There are a lot of untapped components from logic gates and video players that we can implement in the future, expanding the possibilities of our program even more. The idea that someone can build a computer from scratch using CircuitAR would be pretty sick. In addition, we plan to add some more physics mechanics like voltage and resistance in the future to make this an even more powerful learning tool.