Projects

Push Python, a push-button implementation of the LOGO turtle

The aim of this project is to develop a web- or mobile-based version of Push- Python (P-P). P-P is an educational application which helps develop computational thinking in children who are not yet ready to use text-based programming languages. The app, shown below, helps students to create geometric patterns from a small number of very simple, LOGO-like, programming commands. The P-P application will be used in the classroom and teachers should be able to add new problems and create new problem sets for a class.

Making a CNC Pick and Place Machine for Building 3D Shapes

Programming for Blind or Visually Impaired Learner

In 2014 the UK government introduced a new Computing curriculum for schools giving all children the opportunity to learn the elementary principles of programming. Since then, a considerable number of education-related innovations have also emerged to support younger coders from visual, block-based programming languages such as Blockly and Scratch to the development of simple IDEs such as IDLE for Python.

Students with a visual impairment are in danger of being left behind. The primary aim of this project is to create a system that will allow a young coder to build a simple 3D shape using wooden blocks and have, at the other end, a Pick and Place CNC machine build a replica of the shape. A Kinect could be used to capture an image of the blocks. Intermediate software would translate the image to a set of instructions for the CNC machine. It should also be possible to write code in a Domain Specific Language to build a 3D shape using the CNC machine. This system will allow novice programmers with a visual impairment to solve problems using computational thinking.

Assembly language simulator

This project has been suggested by the Chief Examiner of one of the UK's 'A' level Exam Boards.

An assembly language/machine code simulator is needed to support teaching students about the structure and role of the processor and its components at 'A' level. The simulator must support assembly language and machine code programming for the ARM v7 instruction set architecture which similar to that found in the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B, ARM Cortex-A7 CPU.

The simulator must allow assembly language programs to be written, edited, assembled and run and should also allow the user to step through a program, line by line. The software must include an onscreen keyboard, console, memory-mapped peripherals/addressable peripheral registers, support for interrupts, memory, registers and other features to be discussed.

A simulator based on a Motorola CPU instruction set was produced as a third-year undergraduate Computer Science degree project a few years ago. It has been used in schools/colleges for some time, however, it is not a direct match for the latest specifications.