Soft & Hard ideas to improve interaction with robots for Kids & Teachers

Abstract

In this paper we present the activities we are carrying out in order to provide teachers with new tools and educational Robotic kits for the classroom. We are working in two directions. First we are interested in early robotic programming languages. Available robots (like the Bee-Bot) are convenient to begin but the programming language is very limited. The direction of our research is to use Arduino based robots to improve the programming language. The other issue we want to work on is to provide teachers with computer supported sceneries in order to enrich robotic activities. In this paper we present some preliminary results of the experiences we are having in using an interactive top table with Bee-Bot robots where Kids and Teachers can work together.