Teaching Electronics and Laboratory Automation Using Microcontroller Boards

Modern microcontroller boards offer the analytical chemist a powerful and inexpensive means of interfacing computers and laboratory equipment. The availability of a host of educational materials, compatible sensors, and electromechanical devices make learning to implement microcontrollers fun and empowering. This article describes the advantages of using Arduino microcontroller boards for lab automation. It also includes lesson plans and exercises for teaching how to use them in the analytical chemistry curriculum. Two of these exercises include acquiring data from simple spectrometers and the control of a thermal cycler for PCR. The versatility of these devices will make them another important tool in the analytical chemist's toolkit.