Tangible programming mechatronic interface for basic induction in programming

The programming field is mostly taught through visual programming interfaces complemented with traditional computer hardware such as mice, keyboards, and others. Careers of the future will require strong programing skills, and nowadays around the world these skills are developed since childhood. In developing countries such as Peru, the programing skills are mostly acquired during university, and, in high school, the students use robotics kits that could be expensive to afford for public institutions. From the research literature it is observed that the concept of tangible programing instead of visual virtual programming could have a strong impact in the learning experience, particularly for children around six years old. The present work details the design of a platform called FYO (Follow Your Objective), a low-cost tangible programing platform composed of a physical intuitive programming board, puzzle-based tangible blocks and a zoomorphic mobile robot, which could be used for children around six years old, in order to teach and improve programing skills. The preliminary experiments and result of platform are evaluated and presented; results show that a tangible platform puzzle-based can improve children programming skills. Finally, future work for improvement is discussed.