Development of mobile interfaces to interact with automatic control experiments

Mobile devices have been widely adopted in recent years. Market researchers and futurists forecast that personal computers (PCs) will become a relic of the past, being gradually overshadowed by low-cost portable devices like tablet computers and mobile phones [1]. Today's mobile devices have wireless network connectivity, granting users increased accessibility and mobility. In industry, engineers have already begun to leverage these benefits of mobile devices to perform their jobs more conveniently and collaboratively [2]. Companies that design applications (a.k.a. apps) for engineering say "people need tools equivalent with what they have on their desktop but that they can take with them wherever they go" [2]. In a similar vein, mobile applications that free users from being tethered to a PC to monitor, command, or control laboratory equipment can allow hands-on experiential learning to be accessible from virtually anywhere and at any time, including at unexpected moments. For instance, if an engineering student is reminded of a laboratory experiment while going about her daily life, a mobile app can enable her to connect with the experiment to examine her hypotheses immediately instead of waiting to access the laboratory on campus and possibly forgetting valuable ideas. That is, since new ideas often arise spontaneously, mobile devices may support the creative learning process [3].