Self-built laboratory for learning automatic control

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.29105/ingenierias29.100-981

Keywords:

Control, learning, board, Arduino UNO, linear system

Abstract

An accessible and low-cost way to complement automatic control learning through experiments is addressed in
this work. Guided by the idea of building a portable, low-cost, do-it-yourself laboratory, a prototype is proposed
that also provides several ways to visualize the behavior of a dynamic system. The prototype allows the definition
of plants using interconnections of resistors and capacitors, signal acquisition, manual selection of the reference
value through a potentiometer, and the ability to operate in open loop. The input and/or the controller are processed
by a microcontroller (Arduino UNO). The system input is provided by a signal through pulse-width modulation.
The results can be visualized using an OLED display and/or through an external program. The laboratory is
supported by a series of programs and information made available to interested users through a GitHub repository.

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Author Biographies

Efrain Alcorta Garcia, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

He graduated with a degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in 1989 and 1992, respectively. He earned his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Gerhard-Mercator University Duisburg in 1999. Since November 1999, he has served as a research professor in Electrical Engineering, specializing in automatic control, as well as fault-tolerant diagnostics and control. In 2008-2009, he conducted a research stay at the University of Bordeaux, France. He is a full member of the Mexican Academy of Engineering, the Mexican Association of Automatic Control, AMESDYC, and the IEEE.

David Alejandro Díaz Romero, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Control and Computer Engineering, and a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, and a Doctorate in Automatic Control and Systems from Sheffield University. His research interests include topological methods applied to dynamic systems, systems analysis and design, automatic control, and systems analysis. He is a member of the Academic Group in Automation and Control, UANL-CA-170.

Ernesto Zambrano Serrano, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

He is a researcher in dynamical systems, nonlinear control, and fractional calculus, with experience in chaotic systems, memristive systems, and fractional neural networks. He holds a PhD in Control and Dynamical Systems from IPICyT (2017) and is a professor at UANL, a member Level 1 of the Mexican System of Researchers (Sistema Nacional de Investigadoras e Investigadores, SNII), and a member of AMESDYC. He has conducted research stays in Mexico and Hong Kong, contributes to books and scientific projects, and is the technical lead for the Secihti project CF-2023-I-1110.

Miguel Ángel Platas Garza, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

He holds a degree in Electronics and Automation Engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. He later earned his Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in Electrical Engineering from the same institution in 2008 and 2011, respectively. His research interests include signal processing, harmonic analysis, and dynamic systems implementations. He has published extensively in both national and international journals. He is a member of the Mexican System of Researchers (Sistema Nacional de Investigadoras e Investigadores, SNII) and holds a PRODEP profile.

Jesús Daniel Garza Camarena, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León

A specialist in hardware design for embedded systems, he holds a degree in Electronics and Automation, as well as a Master's degree in Mechatronics Engineering, both from the Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Eléctrica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (FIME-UANL). He also completed studies at the Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon, France, and at the Free University of Brussels, Belgium, which strengthened his engineering background. Throughout his professional career, he has worked as a hardware designer, developing printed circuit boards for sensor control and embedded systems applied to telemetry, satellite tracking, and various other technological applications, collaborating with companies such as BOSON T.I., FAMI S.A. de C.V., and Cellamerica S.A. de C.V. He currently works as a teacher at FIME-UANL in subjects related to electronic design, digital electronics and microcontrollers, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, where he also serves as Administrative Coordinator of Laboratories at the undergraduate level.

References

1. Alcorta-Garcia, E., Zambrano-Serrano, E., M. A. Platas-Garza, Diaz-Romero, D. A.: A Microcontroller-Based Take-Home Lab for Low-Cost Automatic Control Education, En Latin American Control Conference, Cancún, Q. Roo, México, Oct. 15-17, (2025).

2. Durfee, W., Li, P., Waletzko, D.: Take-home lab kits for system dynamics and controls courses. In: Proceedings of the 2004 American control conference. vol. 2, pp. 1319–1322. IEEE (2004). DOI: https://doi.org/10.23919/ACC.2004.1386757

3. Rossiter, J., Pope, S., Jones, B.L., Hedengren, J.: Evaluation and demonstration of take-home laboratory kit. IFAC-PapersOnLine 52(9), 56–61 (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.08.124

4. Alcorta-Garcia, E., Platas-Garza, M. Á., Diaz-Romero, D. A.: Identification and control design for an experimental setup to take home. In: 2023 20th International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Computing Science and Automatic Control (CCE). pp. 1–4. IEEE (2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/CCE60043.2023.10332806

5. Azagra, J.R., Martínez, M.G., Canal, S.N.: Nueva plataforma de control de temperatura de bajo coste para la educación en ingeniería de control. Jornadas de Automática (45) (2024).

6. Rico-Azagra, J., Gil Martínez, M.: Rediseño de una plataforma de control de temperatura de bajo coste para la educación en ingeniería de control. In: XLII Jornadas de Automática. pp. 275–281. Universidade da Coruña, Servizo de Publicacións (2021) . DOI: https://doi.org/10.17979/spudc.9788497498043.275

7. Arduino WEB page: https//arduino.cc , consultada el 15 de diciembre del 2025.

8. WEB page: https://arduino.cl//que-es-un-shield/, consultada el 15 de diciembre del 2025.

9. Domínguez, S., Campoy, P., Sebastián, J. M., Jiménez A.: Control en el espacio de estado. Pearson Educación S.A., Madrid, segunda edición, (2006).

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Published

2026-01-29

How to Cite

Alcorta Garcia, E., Díaz Romero, D. A., Zambrano Serrano, E., Platas Garza, M. Ángel, & Garza Camarena, J. D. (2026). Self-built laboratory for learning automatic control. Revista Ingenierías, 29(100), 3–9. https://doi.org/10.29105/ingenierias29.100-981

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 100 (2026): Enero-Junio

Section

Artículos

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Efrain Alcorta Garcia, David Alejandro Díaz Romero, Ernesto Zambrano Serrano, Miguel Ángel Platas Garza, Jesús Daniel Garza Camarena

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.