In the modern world, humans use the Internet for almost anything like shopping, socialization, news, or control a robot from anywhere in the world. Controlling a robot using a web browser and the Arduino board without an Ethernet shield is an easy task and is the subject of this article.

Any robot can be designed to be controllable from anywhere in the world and without additional electronics like Ethernet or WiFi shield. The easiest and best solution is to use an Arduino board and a PHP web-based interface that is a cross-platform on a device with web browsing capabilities like PC, smartphone, or tablet.

The operating principle uses the capabilities of Arduino that makes a GET request to a server in order to make updates of the desired parameters. All these parameters are stored on the server from where the PHP web-based application shown to the user on the desired device.

Tutorials

A series of tutorials to learn how different variants of Arduino board can be controlled over the Internet using PHP scripts.
In this article I would like to present you some tutorials which may represent the basis for a project that uses Arduino boards and PHP web-based scripts in order to control a robot. Below are available a combination of tutorials and guides with short descriptions that include an overview of the content.

• How to remotely enable/disable a LED on your Arduino using PHP and Processing – tutorial to learn how to build a web interface for sending commands to an Arduino board in order to switch the LED on or off. The web interface consists of three main files including here the HTML file, a PHP file with instructions, and a .txt-file for storing values;
• DIY Arduino PID and Web Reporting Temp Control – an application is complete as long as it serves something for example to show on a smartphone in real-time the status of the robot. In this tutorial is detailed a simple example how to see in real-time the Arduino based PID controller unit data displayed on a mobile device with a browser;
• Interfacing PHP with the Arduino (with a splash OS X) – simple guide with programming lines for PHP file and C lines for the Arduino Decimila board in order to control using a simple web system electronic parts connected to the Arduino board;
• Control an Arduino with PHP – step by step tutorial that show you the simplest way to control from anywhere in the world an Arduino board using PHP script and without an Ethernet or WiFi shield;
• Remotely controlling a motor using Arduino, Python and PHP – this tutorial is closer to the robotics field and show you how to send commands from a web-based application to the Arduino board in order to control a DC motor;
• Getting Started – simple example how to use a PHP script to control the Arduino UNO board over the Internet;
• Control Arduino via PHP (EasyPHP) – simple guide with for controlling the Arduino Duemilanove over the Internet with PHP script that running on WAMP web server;
• Control Your Arduino With PHP Via C++…and Why Not JQuery! – this tutorial show you how to build a web application with PHP and JQuery to send ON/OFF commands to an Arduino board;
• How To Set Up Arduino Web Control Without An Ethernet Shield – from setup the Arduino board to web controller, this tutorial show you how a simple web-based application can be used with simple PHP and JavaScript skills to control over the Internet an RGB LED;