Robo-Blocks: A tangible programming system with debugging for children

Abstract

This paper presents a tangible programming system called Robo-Blocks. The system consists of electronic command blocks that can be connected together to form a program that controls the movement of a floor robot. The basis of the design is to make programming accessible to young children. Robo-Blocks adds the ability to debug a tangible program by allowing children to step through each instruction and observe the resulting action. We present case studies that demonstrate how the step-by-step operation can help children to better analyze and debug the robot's action when the outcome is different from their expectations.