This shield could be a good alternative to hobby RC controllers for robots that need a customizable open-source motor controller. The PCB design and source code are available on GitHub.

I use that in a lot of Circuit VR posts so you can click on a circuit and see it live. However, the simulator does not save the source code in the virtual Arduino. You have to do that yourself.

Arduino simplifies things by only using just one coding language. Here's what you need to get started with developing software for the tiny device.