Robert: An Automated Tool to Perform Mobile Application Test
Lennon Chaves, Flavia Camila Morais de Oliveira, Leonardo Tiago, Renata Castro · 2024
Software tests are fundamental to ensuring that the end user does not face any issues, and there are two primary approaches to application testing: manual (testing without scripts) and automated (using programming language scripts). Thus, automated testing is promising because of its ability to reduce manual effort during testing. Thus, the goal of this study is to present a tool called Robert, which was implemented to perform a suite of automated test cases on mobile applications in the Institute of Research and Development, which develops software for smartphones and tablets with the Android operating system. To achieve this goal, a study was carried out in 2023, collecting data from all tests performed with the Robert Tool. In addition, the testing team answered a survey regarding what they gained from the tool and the lessons they learned as they used it. Between the main results, it was observed that the strategy of applying the Robert Tool, which automated 15 test cases out of a total of 35 in a specific scope, in the application validation reduced the effort of manual execution by 33%. Furthermore, another observed result is that there will be a reduction of 714h of testing through automation in 2023. The survey participants found the tool easy to use and appreciated the time savings. Overall, this study presents an industry experience report and outlines the lessons learned and the success factors for implementing automation in mobile application testing.