Remote Laboratory

Remote laboratory (also known as online laboratory or remote workbench) is the use of telecommunications to remotely conduct real (as opposed to virtual) experiments, at the physical location of the operating technology, whilst the scientist is utilizing technology from a separate geographical location. Remote laboratory comprehends one or more remote experiments.

Benefits

The benefits of remote laboratories are predominantly in engineering education:
* Relax time constraints, adapting to pace of each student, if there was insufficient time in lab
* Relax geographical constraints, disregarding the physical locality of the student
* Economies of scale, as sharing labs allows sharing of large fixed costs of traditional buildings
* Improve quality of experiment, as it can be repeated to clarify doubtful measurements in lab
* Improve effectiveness, as student may improve effectiveness of time spent at lab by rehearsal
* Improved safety and security, as no risk of catastrophic failure

Researchers from the Labshare describe the advantages as being:
* Increasing accessibility to laboratories by a factor of 4 within 3 years, since current lab utilization is less than 10%
* Decrease fixed and variable expenditure by 50%, since faculty budget spends between 15 and 40% on lab infrastructure and personnel, around $400m per year
* Improve learning objectives and outcomes to support better learning
* Enhance sharing of knowledge, expertise and experience
* Reduce start-up costs of laboratories

This allows for economies of scale production.

Another benefit is that this technology can be integrated into Moodle,EJSApp Moodle Plugin
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Disadvantages

The disadvantages differ depending on the type of remote laboratory and the topic area.
The general disadvantages compared to a proximal (hands on) laboratory are:
* Lack of hands on trouble shooting and debugging experience.
* Lack of equipment setup experience.

Future direction

Current system capabilities include:
* Online session booking, utilizing a database and online interface
* Authentication to satisfy security requirements
* Desktop, generalized screen for chat, emoticon, time limit, bandwidth limit
* Live lab camera which allows panning, tilting, zooming, showing, hiding, refresh
* Circuit builder (this is just simulative)
* Function generator (this is just simulative)
* Digital multimeter (this is just simulative)
* Oscilloscope (this is just simulative)

See also

* GOLC
*iLabs
* Labicom
*Lila Project
* FARLabs

References

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External links

EdrysRemote Electronic eXtensionsSmart Adaptive Remote Laboratory SARLLabworkRemote Laboratory
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
FARLabsLabicom Netlab
from the University of South Australia
LabsLand: global network of remote laboratoriesLabshare Labster

MIT iCampus iLabs
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology an
wikinetCIRCUITlabsRemote Labs
from the University of Technology Sydney
Remotely controlled lab
from the Palacký University of Olomouc
iLabs
from the University of Queensland
iSES internet School Experiment SystemLiLa project - Library of LabsOnline-Lab, CarinthiaUWA TelerobotWebLab, University of DeustoiLough-Lab, University of LoughboroughRemote Engineering and Virtual InstrumentationInternational Journal of Online EngineeringFree Open Online LabsRemote Operation of Engineering Labs - University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaRemote Internet Lab
GymKT (the Grammar-school of J. Vrchlicky), Klatovy
VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems In Reality) - Blekinge Institute of TechnologyRemote Experimentation Lab - RExLab
from the Federal University of Santa Catarina
Remote Labs Learning Environment - RELLEUniversity Network of Interactive Labs
Spanish Open University
Moodle EJSApp and Extensions Set for Virtual and Remote LaboratoriesR-DSP Lab, University of PatrasRemotely Controlled Laboratory, University of Technology KaiserslauternRobotic DistanceLabInternet microscope/Magnetic domain investigate, Physics Faculty, University at Białystok,Poland, since 1999Social Proton

Laboratory types