Arduino-based projects can be very useful in engineering students’ education since, if they are properly planned, they can constitute rich educational activities in the sense that they encourage students’ active participation and, at the same time, they offer them the opportunity to encounter and use a variety of notions and technical skills in the spirit of the STEM approach.

The article describes the implementation of a project regarding the development of a computer-numerical-controlled (CNC) laser cutting machine on an Arduino platform. This project was selected on the basis that it offered itself for employing diverse topics and skills of electrical and electronic engineering including laser basics and applications (with emphasis to industrial ones), microcontrollers and their programming, motors (with emphasis to stepped motors), computer numerical control (CNC), computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), design and integration of a complete operational setup, cost-related considerations etc. The project was considered as a pilot one in the sense that would allow the evaluation of the human effort and time required together with the possible instructional results and as such help plan (and embody in the educational process) suitable similar projects depending on their complexity, scale and possible outcomes.

The project was implemented at the Dept. of Electrical & Electronic Engineering Educators, School of Pedagogical & Technological Education (ASPETE, Athens, Greece). The graduates of this department have the option to be employed as teachers in technological secondary education hence dealing with projects such as the above (may be of a smaller scale and properly adapted to the class’s level of education) would help them assign similar activities to their pupils and generally embody the STEM and active learning principles into their teaching practice.

Other Arduino-based projects could be the development of sensing and recording environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, pressure etc., robotic or access-control devices that, depending on their scale and complexity, could be assigned to one or more students in the framework of either individual courses or their diploma work.

Keywords: Engineering Education, Electrical Engineering Education, Electronic Engineering Education, STEM, Arduino.