SNDBOX: A Tangible Sand Interface for Observing Behavioral Subordination to Generative AI

We present SNDBOX, a tangible interactive installation that recontextualizes Rangoli, a 5,000-year-old Indian sand-drawing practice, as a spatial interface for observing how people respond to real-time generative AI. Participants shape colored sand on a table; an overhead camera feeds a YOLO object-detection model whose label drives a StreamDiffusion image-to-image pipeline shown on a monitor in real time, closing a continuous physical-digital loop. Because sand accumulates and degrades rather than resetting, every adjustment a participant makes in response to the machine’s output remains visible on the surface, turning an invisible behavioral pattern into a spatial, hands-on demo experience for conference attendees.