The Oasis Mini Aims to Be the Lowest-Cost Kinetic Sand Art System Around

Technological art startup Oasis Design has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Oasis Mini, a computer-controlled kinetic art sculpture which comes in at a fraction of the cost of the competition — but that does not, its creators claim, skimp on quality.

"Life gets stressful, and we all need some mental space from time to time," Oasis Design co-founder Zach Frew claims. "Often we find that space in mindless scrolling and binging. What if there was a way to feel more relaxed while staying engaged with our senses? That's why we built Oasis Mini — a relaxing and accessible kinetic art canvas."

Constructed from bamboo and glass, and with a ring of RGB LEDs to illuminate the surface beneath, the Oasis Mini uses a metal ball driven by magnets to slowly inscribe patterns or pictures into soft white sand. "There are two main types of designs: algorithmic and illustrated," Frew explains. "Algorithmic designs can be made with free tools. Illustrated designs can be made with apps that support vectorized SVGs."

The Oasis Mini is far from the first sand-and-ball-based kinetic art device, of course — nor even the first with "mini" in the name. 2016's Sisyphus was followed by the smaller and cost-reduced Sisyphus Mini, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the Oasis Mini albeit larger at 15" to 9" — but the two are an order of magnitude apart in cost. "As far as we know," Frew explains, "it is the most affordable by a hefty margin.

"The secret sauce is really in the unique motion system we've designed. It's generally true in engineering that it's easier and cheaper to move things in a circle than in a straight line. This mostly comes down to the wonderful world of bearings. Small bearings are among the cheapest and most optimized mechanical components in human history, and Oasis Mini uses nothing but bearings for its motion."

As a result, Oasis Design is launching the Oasis Mini at just $199 — with crowdfunding backers on the limited-in-number "early bird" tier offered a 50 per cent discount down to just $99. At that, the device is a full order of magnitude cheaper than its rivals — but the company claims it will be built to a high quality and with an energy-efficient motor system drawing only 10W at its peak.

The company's crowdfunding campaign is now live on Kickstarter, and at the time of writing had already easily passed its goal.