GoDonnie: A Robot Programming Language to Improve Orientation and Mobility Skills in People Who are Visually Impaired
Juliana Damasio Oliveira, Márcia de Borba Campos, Alexandre Amory, Rafael H. Bordini · 2019 · Proceedings of the 21st International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2019) · doi:10.1145/3308561.3354599
Summary
This demonstration paper presents GoDonnie, a text-based programming language designed to help people who are visually impaired (PVI) develop both computational thinking and orientation and mobility (O&M) skills simultaneously. GoDonnie is based on Logo, the classic educational programming language where users command a turtle to move and draw, but adapted for accessibility and O&M training. Users write commands in a screen-reader-compatible text editor to control a virtual robot in a 2D simulator called the Donnie Programming Environment (DPE). The language was specifically designed to address accessibility barriers in existing programming environments: Python’s whitespace-delimited blocks are difficult to navigate with screen readers, and C/Java’s nested braces create matching challenges for visually impaired programmers. GoDonnie avoids both by using explicit block delimiters compatible with screen reading. Movement commands (FW, BW, TR, TL) move the virtual robot through a simulated environment, and the robot’s behaviour is conveyed through spoken messages and iconic sounds rather than visual feedback. Crucially, GoDonnie includes spatial awareness commands not found in typical robot languages: SCAN detects objects within 180 degrees and reports their colour, distance, and angle; COLOR counts objects of a given colour; DISTANCE reports range sensor readings from six directions; STATE reports the robot’s current pose; and POS returns coordinates. These commands are designed to help users build mental maps of the virtual environment, directly reinforcing O&M skills like spatial orientation and environmental awareness.
Key findings
The system was evaluated with two participants — one blind (P1, no programming experience) and one with low vision (P2, prior programming experience). Both completed all six programming activities successfully. In the primary task, users explored the virtual environment using GoDonnie commands and then constructed a physical tactile map representing that environment by arranging objects on a surface. Both participants produced tactile maps that closely matched the virtual environment layout, demonstrating that GoDonnie’s audio feedback enabled them to form accurate mental models of the space. Both participants strongly agreed that GoDonnie was easy to use, had good utility, prevented errors effectively, and had adequate help documentation. They were satisfied with the sound interface and found it supported O&M development. Suggestions for improvement included more command examples in the guide and changes to the COLOR command to also report object locations and sizes. The language commands are available in both Portuguese and English, reflecting the Brazilian research context.
Relevance
GoDonnie addresses an important intersection of STEM education accessibility and O&M training. Most programming education tools (Scratch, Lego Mindstorms, NaoBlocks) rely on graphical interfaces that are inaccessible to people with visual impairments. By creating a text-based, screen-reader-compatible language with audio feedback, GoDonnie makes robot programming accessible while simultaneously developing spatial reasoning skills that are foundational to O&M. The dual benefit — learning programming and improving spatial orientation through the same activity — is a compelling approach for educational settings serving visually impaired students. The concept of using robot navigation as a metaphor for personal navigation is particularly clever, as it allows learners to practice spatial problem-solving in a safe virtual environment. As a demonstration paper with only two participants, this is preliminary work, but the approach is promising and the open availability of the language and system enables others to build on it.
Tags: orientation and mobility · visual impairment · programming education · robotics · screen readers · STEM accessibility · spatial cognition · computational thinking · blind