Creating Hardware-Accessible Learning with the Robotarium and Block Coding

Abstract The Georgia Tech Robotarium is a remotely accessible swarm robotics research platform that is designed for open and free access to support a vision for "robotics for all". Users can submit experiments written in Python or MatLab for the Robotarium robots to perform, but after educator feedback, it was clear that a process that is friendlier to novice coders was needed for the Robotarium to be accessible for young coders. A partnership between STEM@GTRI and the GT Robotarium facilitated the development of a block-coding interface that allows users to assemble code that can be submitted to the Robotarium. Similar to popular block coding sites, such as Scratch, our block-coding interface allows students to code multiple robots without the need for sophisticated understanding of programming languages and their syntax. This approach enables anyone to develop and deploy code to the Robotarium, where it can run on real-world hardware without the need for users to have the resources and time to secure and maintain their own. This is particularly notable for multiagent robotics, which would be likely unfeasible for most schools in the K12 setting to operate on their own. This paper describes the design, development, and initial piloting of the Robotarium Block Coding Interface with K12 audiences.