Project Based Learning in Laboratories Using Open Source Technologies: Case Study of a Frugal Approach

Abstract

A course on Microcontrollers is being offered in the Department of Automation and Robotics at BVBCET since last 2 years. The students enrolled in this department come from different disciplines such as Mechanical, Mechatronics, and Electronics. Teaching microcontrollers for such students is a challenging task because of the diverse background of the students. In this paper we propose a course design which will hold the interest of the students and at the same time be able to teach about the current microcontrollers. The course is so designed that it has three objectives. One, the student should be able to program both in assembly and C language. Two, use real-world concepts and techniques to identify the real world problems and solve to automate them. Third and the important objective is to make students capable of using this course in mini, minor and major projects and in their industrial career. The laboratory was developed using a frugal approach in which low cost open source kits were identified and acquired in more numbers so that the students could easily take the kits and work wherever they want. The experiments and projects were built around these open source inexpensive kits. The results are very encouraging and they show that all the students took interest and were comfortable with microcontroller kits and were able to build good projects at the end of the laboratory.