4 ms·

Tapster – mobile device automation robot

19 points by hugs 12y ago

voodootikigod 12y ago
I love tapster and best of all, it can dance!
- hugs 12y ago
  Learned from the best! Inside joke alert: Chris Williams (aka voodootikigod) wrote Tapster's dance code at the JSConf EU 2012 Saturday night party before my talk -- when I was rewriting all the Python code to JavaScript...
hugs 12y ago
Tapster creator here. Happy to answer any questions!
clay_to_n 12y ago
Mobile developers: is there a need for this? Are automated testing tools for emulators not good enough? Fascinated by this, but a bit confused about how practical its uses are. Very cool in any case.
- hugs 12y ago
  A robot (combined with a video camera) lets you test things on real devices that current software-only tools don't handle: - Testing interactions between apps and the actual sensors on real devices. (Accelerators, cameras, GPS, making phone calls, receiving and handling SMS messages etc.) - Testing perceived latency of video playback or UI transition animations. - Testing interactions with the real environment -- an app that controls a light, completes a point-of-sale payment, or opens your car door, for example. - Automating apps that you don't own or didn't write. Automation APIs on iOS are pretty locked down so you can't automate apps that you don't own. Classic example is if you want to automate an interaction with the built-in phone, messaging, or email app. For this use-case, for automating on a real device, you'd need a robot. (This is less of a problem on Android, though.) Also, phone manufacturers and network providers use robots to certify the devices themselves. Just last week, T-Mobile sued Huawei, alleging corporate spying of their phone-testing robot design. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/business/t-mobile-accuses-huawei-of-theft-from-laboratory.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/business/t-mobile-accuses-...
- fidotron 12y ago
  Indeed. For Android you have the random event: http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkey.html http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkey.html And the scriptable: http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkeyrunner_concepts.html http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkeyrunner_concept... Both of which can run on actual devices, though you are going to be ignoring the parts which depend on actual users (touch screen latency being the main thing there). That random event one has an amazing ability to crash almost anything.
bikamonki 12y ago
I see only one use for it: hardware/display testing. For everything else a software/gui automation tool will do the job (I use Automagic for Android and it costs 4 bucks not 10k!!!!)
- hugs 12y ago
  The design is all open source software and open source (mostly 3D-printable) hardware. A detailed bill of materials with part costs and suppliers is posted in the repo. The 10K price-tag is for white-glove support and consulting. (My time is expensive!) When you consider all the devices coming out now that are 1/2 software, 1/2 hardware (e.g.smart watches, smart glasses, etc.) that interact with the real world, I believe robotic testing will become more common in the future. Besides, compared to the cost of a product recall due to inadequate quality control, 10K is nothing.
SchizoDuckie 12y ago
I had the need for something like this as well at one time. Decided to ghetto-hack it since it only needed a touch at one point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4b5ym1ZqSo&list=UUm5ytliPWaH2rDPZ5kW1ZJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4b5ym1ZqSo&list=UUm5ytliPWa... The headphones around the pen are to ground it, so that the touch registers on the tablet.

19 points by hugs 12y ago

voodootikigod 12y ago

I love tapster and best of all, it can dance!

hugs 12y ago
Learned from the best! Inside joke alert: Chris Williams (aka voodootikigod) wrote Tapster's dance code at the JSConf EU 2012 Saturday night party before my talk -- when I was rewriting all the Python code to JavaScript...

hugs 12y ago

Tapster creator here. Happy to answer any questions!

clay_to_n 12y ago

Mobile developers: is there a need for this? Are automated testing tools for emulators not good enough? Fascinated by this, but a bit confused about how practical its uses are. Very cool in any case.

hugs 12y ago
A robot (combined with a video camera) lets you test things on real devices that current software-only tools don't handle: - Testing interactions between apps and the actual sensors on real devices. (Accelerators, cameras, GPS, making phone calls, receiving and handling SMS messages etc.) - Testing perceived latency of video playback or UI transition animations. - Testing interactions with the real environment -- an app that controls a light, completes a point-of-sale payment, or opens your car door, for example. - Automating apps that you don't own or didn't write. Automation APIs on iOS are pretty locked down so you can't automate apps that you don't own. Classic example is if you want to automate an interaction with the built-in phone, messaging, or email app. For this use-case, for automating on a real device, you'd need a robot. (This is less of a problem on Android, though.) Also, phone manufacturers and network providers use robots to certify the devices themselves. Just last week, T-Mobile sued Huawei, alleging corporate spying of their phone-testing robot design. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/business/t-mobile-accuses-huawei-of-theft-from-laboratory.html http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/06/business/t-mobile-accuses-...
fidotron 12y ago
Indeed. For Android you have the random event: http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkey.html http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkey.html And the scriptable: http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkeyrunner_concepts.html http://developer.android.com/tools/help/monkeyrunner_concept... Both of which can run on actual devices, though you are going to be ignoring the parts which depend on actual users (touch screen latency being the main thing there). That random event one has an amazing ability to crash almost anything.

bikamonki 12y ago

I see only one use for it: hardware/display testing. For everything else a software/gui automation tool will do the job (I use Automagic for Android and it costs 4 bucks not 10k!!!!)

hugs 12y ago
The design is all open source software and open source (mostly 3D-printable) hardware. A detailed bill of materials with part costs and suppliers is posted in the repo. The 10K price-tag is for white-glove support and consulting. (My time is expensive!) When you consider all the devices coming out now that are 1/2 software, 1/2 hardware (e.g.smart watches, smart glasses, etc.) that interact with the real world, I believe robotic testing will become more common in the future. Besides, compared to the cost of a product recall due to inadequate quality control, 10K is nothing.

SchizoDuckie 12y ago

I had the need for something like this as well at one time. Decided to ghetto-hack it since it only needed a touch at one point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4b5ym1ZqSo&list=UUm5ytliPWaH2rDPZ5kW1ZJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4b5ym1ZqSo&list=UUm5ytliPWa... The headphones around the pen are to ground it, so that the touch registers on the tablet.