Theater robotics for human technology education

Abstract

Theater robotics allows its users to learn by transforming a story into a theatrical performance acted out by robots. A preliminary implementation uses affordable robotics kits controlled by a scripting environment that was designed iteratively by observing the users from the viewpoint of a given set of criteria. The end result facilitates a truly interdisciplinary learning experience that combines two types of artifacts: robots built with technology and engineering, and stories founded on humanities. Theater robotics can be applied not only in technology or robotics education, but also in computing education to teach specific skills such as computational thinking or basic concepts of programming with robots.