A Reference Framework for Empowering the Creation of Projects with Arduino in the Ecuadorian Universities

Abstract

There has been a shift in the Higher Education model, especially at the university level, where distance education and remote laboratories for teaching and training have been incorporated. On the other hand, popular interest in robotics, as well as research around this technology, have increased in the last years. In this sense, Arduino is a platform that helps teachers and students to develop robotics-based solutions without a great investment, since its use does not require special robotics labs. Considering these facts, in this work, we present a reference framework that allows the fast development of robotic projects based on Arduino. This framework was used for developing several projects that solve multidisciplinary and real-life problems. Furthermore, this framework was used regardless the students’ expertise level in robotics. Considering the students’ opinions about the use of the framework, we noted that it helped students to provide solutions for a wide range of problems based on a critical thinking approach.