BlockyTalky is a programming environment designed to make it easy for novice programmers to make interactive, networked physical computing devices. Kids as young as 10 have used it to rapidly build a wide range of projects, from networked cat feeders to computer music systems.

Publications

 

BlockyTalky Website    Laboratory for Playful Computation

 

Associated Researchers

annie kelly
Annie Kelly
MS, TMS—Research Master's '19
ATLAS Institute
Photo of Sahana Sadagopan
Sahana Sadagopan
Graduate Student
Photo of Kari Santos
Kari Santos
Community Partner and Alumna • MS, TMS—Information and Communication Technology for Development
ATLAS Institute

In the news

Clement Zheng, Peter Gyory, and Ellen Yi-Luen Do.
2020. Tangible Interfaces with Printed Paper Markers. (to appear) In Proceedings of the 2020 Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’20). DOI: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3357236.3395578 (Eindhoven, Netherlands (virtual) – July 6-20, 2020).

Chris Bopp, Lehn M. Benjamin, and Amy Voida.
2019. The Coerciveness of the Primary Key: Infrastructure Problems in Human Services Work. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 3, CSCW, Article 51 (November 2019), 26 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359153 (Austin, Texas – Nov. 9-13, 2019).

Girl looking up from computer.
Computer Science Education Week: Going Beyond Code

Dec. 6, 2017

The Laboratory for Playful Computation has developed technology that enables middle-school students to quickly create networks, connect devices, invent apps and design wearable technology.

Assistant Professor Ben Shapiro helps three middle-school students learn Blocky Talky.
Computer music as gateway to learning contemporary computer science

Oct. 25, 2017

Middle school students with limited prior programming experience develop interactive, creative, networked technologies.