KALA: Robotic Platform for Teaching Algorithmic Thinking to Children

Abstract

In the decade of 1970s, KAREL was proposed as innovative way to teach algorithmic thinking to children. This paper discusses the design and implementation of KALA the robot. KALA attempts to bring the world of KAREL to real life, incorporating a platform that consists of a differential robot, a mobile application and a customizable and interactive labyrinth board. KALAs programming is performed using the mobile app, where the user programs a series of instructions that KALA will execute navigating across an interactive labyrinth board. Several tests with users showed improvement in algorithm thinking with just a few attempts to use the platform.