**Designing Hands-On Robotics Courses for Students with Visual Impairment or Blindness with Visual Impairment or Blindness**

**Designing Hands-On Robotics Courses for Students** 

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.73285

Valerie Stehling, Lana Plumanns, Anja Richert, Frank Hees and Sabina Jeschke Frank Hees and Sabina Jeschke Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Valerie Stehling, Lana Plumanns, Anja Richert,

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73285

#### **Abstract**

School laboratories let students playfully experience the fundamentals of, for example, robotics, computer science, and technology-related topics. By working with LEGO Mindstorms, secondary school students get a chance to learn on a cognitive, emotional, and haptic level and gain experiences with the aid of even more advanced robotics. However, due to an impairment or lack of sight, it is hardly possible for some students to fully participate in a programming process or in building a robot. To overcome this unintentional discrimination, the interdisciplinary student laboratory "RoboScope" at RWTH Aachen University has teamed up with a group of experts to develop a barrierfree robotic course. Since then, the course has been tested and implemented based on concurrent evaluations and frequently held at RWTH and several other German schools. The presented work covers an overview of different kinds of visual impairment and lab settings and the development cycle of the courses at RWTH from design to testing, implementation, and further development regarding the evaluations. Evaluations show that students who are visually impaired or blind appreciate the opportunity to participate in the field of robotics. An insight into the evaluation concept that differs from "regular" courses in the "Roboscope," as well as the results are used for further development.

**Keywords:** visually impaired, blind, robotics courses, school labs, extracurricular robotics lab

#### **1. Introduction**

By introducing students to the fundamentals of robotics in an informal, playful setting, extracurricular school laboratories are an effective way to encourage interest in computer science

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

or other technology-related topics. In working with LEGO Mindstorms, a set of soft- and hardware to build programmable robots, they get a chance to learn on a cognitive, emotional, and haptic level. Unfortunately, not every pupil is able to participate in courses like these due to a lack of accessibility. For example, Ludi states that "awareness of potential career paths and access to adequate preparation remain barriers to students who are visually impaired" [1]. For pupils who are visually impaired or blind, it is essentially impossible to fully participate in a programming process or in building a robot.

instance: in seeing objects that are far away (near-sightedness) or that are extremely close or in very small print (far-sightedness). "These types of conditions are often easily treated with

Designing Hands-On Robotics Courses for Students with Visual Impairment or Blindness

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73285

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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), apart from these minor eye problems, "285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision" [4]. Other key facts from the WHO about visual impairment state that around "90% of the world's visually impaired live in low-income settings," "82% of people living with blindness are aged 50 and above" and that 80% of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured [4]. Many people worldwide are only visually impaired because they do not have access to reading aids or medical care in general; most people with visual impairment come from low-income or developing countries. "Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of moderate and severe visual impairment; cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in middle- and low-income countries" [4]. The risk of going blind is estimated to be 10 times higher in developing countries than in industrialized countries [5]. In comparison to persons with low vision, persons who suffer from blindness face additional challenges. These can manifest themselves in social challenges by the difficulty of participation in social activities and events, navigation and orientation in unfamiliar environments as well as difficulties in using technology such as computers and smartphones. Although many people with blindness use tools such as blind rods, screen readers, and other helpful measures, not everyone has the financial background or even enough self-esteem to counterbalance the previously men-

According to the National Eye Institute in the United States, "less familiar visual impairments

• **strabismus**, where the eyes look in different directions and do not focus simultaneously

• **retinopathy of prematurity**, which may occur in premature babies when the light-sensitive

• **retinitis pigmentosa**, a rare inherited disease that slowly destroys the retina (see **Figure 1**);

• **optic nerve hypoplasia**, which is caused by underdeveloped fibers in the optic nerve and

• **cortical visual impairment** (CVI), which is caused by damage to the part of the brain re-

In contrast, there are no reliable numbers of visually impaired children and teenagers in Germany. Nevertheless, visual impairment is a big issue and causes imbalances, particularly

which affects depth perception, sensitivity to light, and acuity of vision; and

• **congenital cataracts**, where the lens of the eye is cloudy;

• **coloboma**, where a portion of the structure of the eye is missing;

retina has not developed sufficiently before birth;

lated to vision, not to the eyes themselves" [4].

eyeglasses or contact lenses" [3].

tioned disadvantages.

on a single point;

include:

The Center for Learning and Knowledge Management, in conjunction with the Institute of Information Management in Mechanical Engineering of RWTH Aachen University and a group of experts, set out to develop a special and accessible course for the visually impaired and blind students. The experts consulted a group of psychologists, school and university teachers, and experts in the field of accessibility as well as in robotics. They took the original course design from an existing robotics course for high school students and transformed it into an accessible course design. The original course consists of theoretical input about building robots and programming as well as the subsequent practical phases, in which the students apply their knowledge on EV3 roboters. At the beginning of each course, the robotic equipment is explained and the problem that needs to be solved is presented. The students—in compliance with the supervisors—then analyze the problem and identify the necessary steps to be taken and in doing so, the desired outcomes of the experiment are met. The applied combination of both theoretical and practical factors has proven to facilitate an authentic learning environment and strong learning results [2]. However, developing a new and adequate course simply by applying technical adjustments is not sufficient. Therefore, all changes applied to the course went hand in hand with an adjustment of teaching and learning strategies.

When designing a programming course for pupils with disabilities, it is crucial to develop these strategies as well as a list of the required tools as a first step. From the gathered findings, the resulting new course design allows students who are visually impaired to participate in the same courses and benefit from the same experiences—such as programming and building a robot—as their fellow pupils. This paper will present an overview of types of visual impairment, different lab settings and an insight into the original course design. This will be followed by results from the expert design workshops in terms of technical and didactic adjustments to the course. Finally, the paper will conclude with the full development cycle of the courses at RWTH Aachen University from design to testing, implementation, and further development.
