Robot Block-Based Programming

Teaching children how to program an interactive robot using block-based programming language

Bachelor thesis (2017)

Contributors

K.V. Hindriks (mentor)
D.J. Broekens (mentor)
O.W. Visser (mentor)
Department
Computer Science (EEMCS) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2017 The Author(s)
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Published Date

07-07-2017

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Department

Computer Science

Abstract

Robots play an increasingly large role in society and some material already exists that allows children to program robots in elementary school. However, this material often neglects the interactive capabilities of modern robots. The aim of this project is to teach children how to write interactive programs for a robot. For this purpose, a NAO robot is used, which is a humanoid robot with advanced features. Children can use a web interface to create programs in a Block-Based Programming Language, which is then sent and processed by the robot in an intelligent manner, using an agent-based system. Over the course of ten weeks, based on research done in the first two weeks, a web interface and an intelligent agent were developed. The BlocklyKids language implements many concepts you would expect from a programming language. Using these concepts, children can solve exercises that are presented to them in the web interface. Testing BlocklyKids in the classroom helped in the development of the product. The company Interactive Robotics, which commissioned this project, will further develop this project.