Online bio-robotics labs: Open hardware models and architecture

Abstract

This paper is on free and open source software architecture (FOSS) for remote labs in order to address the affordability and scalability of robotic education technology for sustainable deployments. The proposed Raspberry Pi-Arduino-based model architecture ensures lower cost while allowing some scalability, interoperability, portability and interchangeability to the low-cost online laboratory. Remotely controlled lab provides training skills in bio-inspired robotics. Our previous studies had shown that the implementation of remotely controlled online labs in the curriculum improved active learning among students, collaboration, and augmented problem solving skills. The preliminary implementation involved proprietary software, as the remote experiment accessibility platform, which was later replaced with FOSS technology. The advantages with FOSS included a significantly lower cost and scalability for concurrent usage. The paper also reports on usage analysis and common issues in both cases of implementations.