diff --git a/src/nupic/bindings/algorithms.i b/src/nupic/bindings/algorithms.i
index 95a410ab98..9b4d82e8fe 100644
--- a/src/nupic/bindings/algorithms.i
+++ b/src/nupic/bindings/algorithms.i
@@ -1163,10 +1163,22 @@ void forceRetentionOfImageSensorLiteLibrary(void) {
       self._initFromCapnpPyBytes(proto.as_builder().to_bytes()) # copy * 2
   %}
 
-  inline void compute(PyObject *py_x, bool learn, PyObject *py_y)
+  inline void compute(PyObject *py_inputArray, bool learn, PyObject *py_activeArray)
   {
-    PyArrayObject* x = (PyArrayObject*) py_x;
-    PyArrayObject* y = (PyArrayObject*) py_y;
+    PyArrayObject* x = (PyArrayObject*) py_inputArray;
+    PyArrayObject* y = (PyArrayObject*) py_activeArray;
+    if (!PyArray_ISUNSIGNED(x) || PyArray_DTYPE(x)->elsize != sizeof(nupic::UInt))
+    {
+      NTA_THROW << "Invalid data type given for input array."
+                << " Expecting 'uint" << sizeof(nupic::UInt) * 8 << "'"
+                << " but got '" << PyArray_DTYPE(x)->type << "'";
+    }
+    if (!PyArray_ISUNSIGNED(y) || PyArray_DTYPE(y)->elsize != sizeof(nupic::UInt))
+    {
+      NTA_THROW << "Invalid data type given for active array."
+                << " Expecting 'uint" << sizeof(nupic::UInt) * 8 << "'"
+                << " but got '" << PyArray_DTYPE(y)->type << "'";
+    }
     self->compute((nupic::UInt*) PyArray_DATA(x), (bool)learn, (nupic::UInt*) PyArray_DATA(y));
   }