We all know that feeling of boredom and impatience that occurs when waiting at a crosswalk for the pedestrian lights to turn green. Yes, it’s annoying, but it’s just one of those things in life. Or, at least, it used to be. Two students, Amelie Kunzler and Sandro Engel, who are studying interactive design at HAWK University in Hildesheim, Germany have come up with a novel solution. They’ve just installed the world’s first Actiwait button at a crosswalk near their university. It allows two players (one on each side of the road) to play a friendly game of Pong with one another while they wait to cross the road.
Website: HAWK University
Talking about their invention, Amelie and Sandro said,
“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”
The device was only installed recently, but has been a great success already.
Check out this video showing how the Actiwait works. It’s in German, but it’s not hard to figure out what’s going on!
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