INFINITE LABS

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INSPIRATION

After dealing with almost two years of online classes, things have started to get extremely boring. Studying a professional course, without lab sessions seems pointless. Online simulators came to our rescue but couldn’t help us more.
The real feel of hands-on experience is missing in online simulators. Real-time lab practicals using hardware have to be learned by students, which is actually not available in our online platform (the physical presence of students is still required for this). That way students can understand the nuances of circuitry like frequency level or be able to debug the errors they come through using hardware. It takes a great effort by the students as well as the teachers to come to their college labs in this covid alarming situation where cases are still increasing day by day. Being able to work with all the components in the lab, while being at home is like a dream come true. Through this project, we try to turn this dream into reality.

WHAT IT DOES

We planned to create a website that will act as a platform for students to access hardware simulation through a webcam that will be placed directly above the hardware connections. This will be 24/7 live-streamed, so students can access them at their time of choice. Initially, the students should log in with the details provided by their college. Then, they will be directed to a page where it would show various camera grid-views of circuits (few cameras having microcontrollers, some with Arduino, etc). Students can get remote access to their required hardware based on the availability of the webserver. If one of the camera access is taken by a student (or students for group projects) then it will be shown unavailable. After getting access to a web server, students can do the hardware connections by simply dragging the components to their board or providing the required code to turn on that component. Step by step functioning of various switches for the circuit functioning can be done by uploading the code on one side of the server. Thus remote access to our digital labs can be made possible.

HOW WE BUILT IT

The lab to be provided with remote access will be live-streamed via a web server on our platform. Anyone can access the Livestream. For the prototype, a Raspberry Pi is used as the server box to which the user can access the remote lab. The Raspberry Pi will be connected to different microcontrollers that are made available to the user. The user can paste their code/firmware onto the platform and program the microcontroller. Connections to various peripherals and components can be configured by multiplexing the output pins using switches/FPGAs.

CHALLENGES WE RAN INTO

Working on this project in an online mood was the first difficulty. But the result this project would bring, made us more enthusiastic. Had to do a lot of research on Raspberry Pi. Obtaining the required hardware components and connecting them efficiently was difficult.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS WE'RE PROUD OF

We are proud that we will be able to help students get hands-on experience while at home.

WHAT WE LEARNED

We learned to work efficiently being at different places. Got to know more about Raspberry Pi, FPGA.

WHAT'S NEXT

We plan to extend our site to all possible students. We are also trying to expand our system to incorporate difficult projects (by including components that are according to demands put forth by students in the future).