PuzzlEx: an Online Experimentation Environment for Control Engineering Labs

This work presents PuzzlEx, an experimentation environment for control engineering virtual and remote labs. This environment not only allows students to make interactive use of the lab but also to define and run customized experiments. For this purpose, an intuitive visual programming language that communicates internally with the laboratory is used. The main advantage of this environment is that it enables the use of interactive laboratories already created without the need to rewrite their code. Students acquire a broader knowledge of the plant or model used and experience in handling problems like those found in real life thanks to the possibility of programming their own experiments. Also, teachers can offer new tasks to students that cover more curricular competencies using the same interactive labs. Two experiments are presented with a Furuta pendulum system used by control engineering students to demonstrate the usefulness and possibilities offered by the environment.