The Use of Robotics to Promote Computing to Pre-College Students with Visual Impairments

Abstract

This article describes an outreach program to broaden participation in computing to include more students with visual impairments. The precollege workshops target students in grades 7--12 and engage students with robotics programming. The use of robotics at the precollege level has become popular in part due to the availability of Lego Mindstorm NXT kits. The robotics programming tools and materials used in the workshops are designed with an accessibility focus for participants with different degrees of vision. Through the use of available assistive technology and open source software, robotics is accessible to the visually impaired. The quantitative and qualitative results from three robotics workshops conducted during the past three years will be discussed, including some initial long-term results. Strategies, based on our experiences, will also be shared to promote accessible outreach. While many of the participants are in middle and early high school, findings indicate that participant interest in computing is high regardless of whether their schools offer computer science courses or not. Increased interest and confidence with robotics persists throughout follow-up activities.