Students and hobbyists today are met with a plethora of electronics projects that can be easily completed with the wide variety of online resources and extensive documentation. Many of these projects include the use of high level embedded systems that serve as a "black box" for electronic control of sensors, actuators, motors, wireless communication, and other complex systems [1-6]. Recently, a trend has emerged in which these development platforms have become smaller, easier to use, open source, and affordable. This trend has enabled interesting projects that aim to introduce new technologies, inspire technological direction, provide capabilities to the underprivileged, and also to educate. In particular, many of these development platforms have made their way to the classroom, especially for early engineering education with the focus of problem solving [7-11]. However, there are many different systems to choose from with a variety of capabilities from an assortment of vendors, and some may or may not be suitable for educational purposes. Great efforts have been made to study different embedded systems [12-14], but these studies are generally created for a specific audience and do not differentiate between the many available systems on the market. This work attempts to bring an evaluation method, which differentiates different embedded platforms and is applicable to a broad audience, ranging from electronics enthusiasts to university instructors.
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