My first impressions

[Olaskoaga Koldo]

Hi 

I received the box this morning and it's being nice to have the opportunity to test it. 

I think that Open Roberta is a very good job. I started using the beginner mode and I missed some funtions but when I realised that there were Beginner and Expert modes, the answers for all the questions I had were there. 

Today I can't test in a Chromebook, but I suppose that it will be possible to use it. Tomorrow I'll try in one of them, and if it is possible to use it, Open Roberta approach can make a difference. Mainly in US, but also in Europe schools have starting deploying Chromebooks in secondary levels and the options to program robots with them are very limited. I supose that since Google is promoting this project the compatibility with Chromebooks will be one of the key points.

Is the installing process clear and easy to understand: It's clear, however I want to comment to things: 

• the first one: "This registration serves only to ensure that the software is not misused. A confirmation email will not be sent. You can immediately register yourself with your specified name and password. The software is free." It's true that the software is free and that you don't need to confirm the registration in order to download the software. However when I clicked on Create a new account I got surprised since I was asked for information about my company... (actually this is not a problem for setup). 
• the second one is that I didn't see the second IP "If all goes well, a second IP address is displayed as it is shown in the following graphic:
  

"

Do you like our programming language NEPO®:

 yes, since I like Scratch I like NEPO, I think that NEPO can fill a space in the children programming learning path. For children who have been using Scratch and/or Scratch+WeDo, NEPO can be the next step.

For which age group, in your opinion, the programming platform is suitable for

• I think is suitable for the same age group that Scratch is for, but perhaps for 8 to 10 years old children it would be better to use previously built robots since it can be difficult for them the building process. 
  
• It's good to have beginner and expert modes. The expert mode is very powerful and can be used throughout secondary school.

Is in your opinion important functionality missing: 

• When you have some programming blocks in your program and you want to select a new one, since the blocks pad is transparent, it's not easy to distinguish them, as you can see in the next picture.
  

[Roberta Roboter]

Hi Olaskoaga,

thanks a lot for your feedback! We will implement your suggestions, especially the usage of Java SE Embedded version 7 Update 60 is a point which we are trying to eliminate. 

[Olaskoaga Koldo]

I have been testing it in a Chromebook computer and in my android tablet, it's good to be the same in different devices.

[Roberta Roboter]

Yes - the idea of Open Roberta Lab is to lower the hurdles as much as possible. Using a standard web browser is one of our ideas to do that... the next steps will follow within our latest release.

[Olaskoaga Koldo]

Another thing, when children start programming, they create some contraptions which have just one motor, actually they are not always mobile robots. So, it would be interesting to have the option to control just one motor in the beginner mode.