Robots have the potential to enhance teaching of advanced computer science topics, making abstract concepts more tangible and interactive. In this paper, we present Timmy-a GoPiGo robot augmented with projections to demonstrate shortest path algorithms in an interactive learning environment. We integrated a JavaScript-based application that is projected around the robot, which allows users to construct graphs and visualise three different shortest path algorithms with colour-coded edges and vertices. Animated graph exploration and traversal are augmented by robot movements. To evaluate Timmy, we conducted two user studies. An initial study (n=10) to explore the feasibility of this type of teaching where participants were just observing both robot-synced and the on-screen-only visualisations. And a pilot study (n=6) where participants actively interacted with the system, constructed graphs and selected desired algorithms. In both studies we investigated the preferences towards the system and not the teaching outcome. Initial findings suggest that robots offer an engaging tool for teaching advanced algorithmic concepts, but highlight the need for further methodological refinements and larger-scale studies to fully evaluate their effectiveness.

翻译：机器人具备增强高级计算机科学主题教学的潜力，能够使抽象概念更加具体化和交互化。本文提出Timmy——一款搭载投影增强功能的GoPiGo机器人，用于在交互式学习环境中演示最短路径算法。我们集成了一款基于JavaScript的应用程序，其投影界面环绕机器人显示，允许用户构建图结构，并通过颜色编码的边与顶点可视化三种不同的最短路径算法。动画化的图探索与遍历过程通过机器人移动得到增强。为评估Timmy系统，我们开展了两项用户研究：初步研究（n=10）旨在探索此类教学模式的可行性，参与者仅观察机器人同步可视化与纯屏幕可视化两种演示；试点研究（n=6）则让参与者主动与系统交互，自主构建图并选择目标算法。两项研究均聚焦于用户对系统的偏好而非教学效果评估。初步结果表明，机器人为教授高级算法概念提供了具有吸引力的工具，但同时也凸显出需要进一步优化方法论并开展更大规模研究以全面评估其有效性。