A team of creative design students have finally installed their brilliant invention, which went viral in 2012 - a crosswalk button that will allow strangers to play pong with one another while they wait for the light to change. Amelie Künzler and Sandro Engel, two interactive design students at HAWK university, had it installed in the German city of Hildesheim just a couple of weeks ago with the help of a team of tech developers.
The idea for their Actiwait button went viral when the students, along with a third colleague, Holger Michel, published their concept video in 2012. Though it was just a fake visualization, it garnered millions of views and likes. After overcoming numerous technological challenges and red tape, a test unit has been installed at a crosswalk in Hildesheim in front of HAWK University (Google Maps).
Read on for Amelia and Sandro's answers to Bored Panda's questions about their clever and fun product!
"The idea came while waiting for the light to turn green. Sandro always needed to wait a traffic light in front of our Campus and one day thought 'this could be more fun' and so he developed the concept and the first video with Holger Michel, who a few moth later left the team," Sandro and Amelie told Bored Panda
"People are mostly excited and happy to have such a device. They smile and get to know each other. There are even visitors from other cities and countries who are coming to play a match of streetpong. Some don't understand the concept behind it immediately but if we explain it to them they think it is great and don't want to stop playing"
Here's what the final product (installed 2 weeks ago in Hildesheim, Germany) actually looks like:
"The touchscreen is a platform on which we can show videos, pictures and it can be used as a device for communication. So we think cities could use it as guides through a city our to give children traffic education right there. We are also developing new devices for the Subway for example, but that one is still a long way to go!"