Teaching Programming and Microcontrollers with an Arduino Remote Laboratory Application

This paper presents our work on an educational web system that teaches programming and microcontroller basics using the Arduino board in remote laboratory settings. In response to the shift towards remote and distance learning brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in an effort to alleviate the issue of continuous equipment shortage in many Croatian schools, we developed and tested a client-server architecture-based interactive remote laboratory system called RemoLab.The system consists of a web-based frontend application, a backend server with an accompanying database, and additional tools for connectivity with an Arduino microcontroller and a webcam. The system allows students to remotely write code for real hardware and instantly observe the results of their actions through a connected web camera. The RemoLab system has the potential to enable teachers in enriching their online courses or homework assignments, but also back up students in independent learning and experimentation with Arduino or microcontrollers. We believe that this application has the potential to improve the way students learn microcontroller programming and can be used as an effective tool for distance learning.