FOLL-E: open source educational tool to stimulate logical reasoning

FOLL-E is an interactive tool designed to stimulate and sharpen the logical reasoning skills of children ages 8-12. Inspired by languages such as Scratch and Blockly, we have developed a blocks-based interface for pure logic. Crucially, we have proceeded to turn our blocks physical: children are given tangible "puzzle pieces" instead of a keyboard and mouse. This physical nature makes the tool more inviting and fun to play with, yet can still express everything we want.

The setup consists of a camera attached to a Raspberry Pi, which is connected to a computer screen. On the computer screen, children are presented with two groups of three robots each. A logic rule separates both robot groups (e.g., in one, all robots have a green arm, compared to none in the other). The goal is for the children to figure out this rule, and compose it by assembling the "puzzle pieces" into the correct configuration representing this rule. The Raspberry Pi then detects the blocks and verifies their correctness using an open-source logic engine. If correct, it continues on to the next level. If incorrect, it explains to the children where they went wrong, so that they can try again. In this sense, FOLL-E is meant to be very interactive.

From the get-go, we wanted FOLL-E to be freely available to everyone. As such, all aspects of FOLL-E are open source and available online for free, including among others the code and the design plans for the blocks. Furthermore, we are working on a detailed step-by-step building guide, aimed at e.g. schools. In a sense, anyone with access to a laser cutter and a Raspberry Pi can make their own setups -- which we strongly encourage you to do. :-)

Feel free to check out https://FOLL-E.com for pictures/videos of FOLL-E or https://gitlab.com/Vadevesi/foll-e to take a look at the source code.