IIT-B students and alumni have developed a robot instruction language especially for children.
A group of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay students and alumni have now made it simple for children to learn programming concepts. Robo.in, a part of ThinkLABS, which is a start-up company incubated at IIT-B, has developed a robot instruction language called ‘CiMPLE’ that can be used by school students to learn programming, nuances of logic building and problem solving approaches.
“C, C++, java are a few common programming languages that are part of the students’ curriculum. Any programme that one writes has many bugs or errors. To debug the programme on the computer is difficult and makes it monotonous for students,” said Varun Jhawar, Robo.in member and fourth year UG student at IIT-B.
Accordingly, Robo.in has developed a new and simple C-based robot instruction language, but minus the difficult set of commands used for programming. They will teach students through workshops.
“CiMPLE will enable kids to make autonomous robot behaviours and is ideal for those who have taken their first steps in programming,” said Nipun Katyal, another member.
“When someone programmes a robot with CiMPLE, the child directly sees where the problem is. He can straightaway correct the errors in the programme if the robot malfunctions. This way, one can learn really fast while having fun,” said Katyal.
It makes learning interactive through a robot while the emphasis remains on logical thinking, added Jhawar.
In addition, Robo.in has also developed a visual programming language to enable younger students to grasp programming and logic development by using a drag-and-drop-based graphical user interface.
The Robo.in team is currently visiting various city schools and making presentations to students and teachers. “India doesn’t find representation in the global robotics scenario. This is due to lack of awareness, resources and the need for a different approach,” said Jhawar. “So we’re trying to motivate students. We are telling them that learning of programming concepts need not be boring and there are low-cost alternatives available,” he said.
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