Using Tablet Devices to Engage Children with Disabilities in Robotic Educational Activities

In a number of prior efforts, robotics-based activities has been shown to encourage K-12 students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and has been incorporated into a number of engineering and computer science disciplines at a number of universities. Unfortunately, for children with disabilities, there are still inadequate opportunities for teaching basic science and engineering concepts using robotics-based curriculum. This outcome is generally due to the scarcity of accessible interfaces to educational robots. On the other hand, the widespread availability and ease-of-use of tablet computers have given rise to opportunities to engage children with visual, cognitive, and learning disabilities through various Apps. Due to their pervasive characteristics, these mobile platforms provide an ideal opportunity to integrate robots into the learning environment for children with disabilities. As such, in this paper, we discuss the integration of tablet computing platforms with alternative interface modalities to engage children with disabilities in robotics-based educational activities. We provide an overview of the interaction system and results on pilot studies that engaged nine children with disabilities in a number of Saturday robotics camps.