Usable and accessible robot programming system for people who are visually impaired

Abstract

In the 1960s, Papert introduced Logo language that commanded a graphic turtle. These were the first advances in the field of educational robotics. Many environments were created in this theme; however, most programming environments are highly graphical, so they do not provide accessible interfaces for visually impaired users. Thus, our research presents challenges and recommendations in terms of usability and accessibility in designing a robot programming environment for people who are visually impaired. We conjectured that by using a programming language to guide a robot in a virtual environment, the person who is visually impaired could better understand orientation and mobility skills. Hence, we created the GoDonnie programming language based on the Logo language. GoDonnie runs in a programming environment called Donnie. We show all the design process of Donnie, that was based on interactive design. Participates in this study, people who are visually impaired and sighted programming professors. Results indicate that GoDonnie and Donnie have good usability, supports the development of orientation and mobility in visually impaired people, and meets the expectations regarding the programming environment. Finally, we created a set of design guidelines for developing robot programming environments for people who are visually impaired.