Curlybot : designing a new class of computational toys

I introduce an educational toy, called curlybot, as the basis for a new class of toys aimed at children in their early stages of development - ages four and up. curlybot is an autonomous two-wheeled vehicle with embedded electronics that can records how it has been moved on any flat surface and then plays back that motion accurately and repeatedly. Children can use curlybot to gain a strong intuition for advanced mathematical and computational concepts, like differential geometry, through play outside a traditional computer. Preliminary studies show that children can create gestures quickly, allowing them to iterate on the patterns that emerge, and successfully understanding and solving problems with curlybot. Programming by demonstration in this context makes the educational ideas implicit in the design of curlybot accessible to young children. curlybot can also act as an expressive tool because of its ability to remember the intricacies of the original gestures: every pause, acceleration, and even the shaking in the hand is recorded and played.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Frei, Philipp A. (Philipp Andres), 1975-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hiroshi Ishii.

• Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61113

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/61113