Programming a humanoid robot with the scratch language

Abstract

In this paper we present a novel approach to programme Kaspar, a 22 DOF humanoid robot used for robot-assisted therapy with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The original software used to programme Kaspar was developed to primarily be used in research. However, Kaspar is now used increasingly in other environments, operated by non-roboticists. While Kaspar has a user-friendly interface to be operated by non-programmers, new games or behaviours were mainly created by the research team; thus, we needed to develop an interface that would allow non-roboticists to programme Kaspar. As a solution, we used the Scratch programming language. We tested the Scratch interface with over 170 school children aged 7 to 10, who had the chance to programme Kaspar and give their feedback. In general terms, Scratch was thought to be a fun, useful and easy way to programme Kaspar, and the majority of the children were willing to use it again.