Testing Procedures

In the design of an experiment, there are several sections of testing which must be completed, mainly the exploratory testing, the assessment testing, the validation testing, and the comparison testing. For the project to be accomplished successfully, many of these testing procedures must be documented and carried out.
The exploratory testing is carried out in the very beginning of the design process. The objective of these tests is to examine and elaborate on the potential of a preliminary design concept while answering several testing questions. This early conceptual analysis is extremely important while designing your preliminary robotic design.
Exploratory Testing Procedures:
1. Does the concept comply to material limitations?
2. Does the basic functionality have value to the users of this project?
3. Have all requirements been fulfilled in this design?
4. Is this design appropriate to the senior capstone design challenge?
5. Will the design construction be completed before the project deadline?
6. Will the design work?
The assessment testing, or the next step in the testing procedures of the project, is more of a detailed testing of the preferred usage. This is more of a secondary testing to the exploratory testing procedures. This test is to assure that the design remains relevant and functioning at a more advanced level than the previous testing.
Assessment Testing Procedures:
1. Can the user complete all tasks intended with this project?
2. How does the user use this product?
3. Is this project usable?
At any time during this project, there could be need for tertiary comparison testing. Comparison testing is a test which may be performed at any stage of the designing process, and it is usually to compare concepts, products, or elements of that product. The comparison test is more to determine the design preference for any part of the project.
Comparison Testing Procedures:
1. What makes this design better than the previous?
2. Which design further suits the project needs?
3. Why is one design better than the other?
Later in the developmental process, the validation test is conducted. This test is the quaternary testing and tests the different parts of the designed system. This is more of a final testing procedure, to be conducted when the project is functioning and performing. This is normally conducted along a benchmark of expected performance. In this main part of the testing procedures, several things will be checked.
Validation Testing Procedures:1. Could the vehicle travel with remote aid?
2. Could the vehicle take soil samples?
3. Did the claw work?
4. Did the PVC attachment work?
5. Did the camera work?
6. Did the motors work?
7. Could it travel up dunes without slipping?
8. Was it durable enough to last on land?
9. Was it strong enough to take a sample?
10. Was battery power enough to power this robot?
11. Did all parts of the robot stay in place during testing?
12. Did the vehicle travel easily with little/no user complications?
As an addition to these validation testing procedures, there are several questions corresponding to testing procedures, should these procedures fail.
1. What hindered the vehicle’s performance and how can that be fixed?
2. Was the robot to weak or too difficult to operate?
3. Is there another way the claw could have been programmed?
4. How else could the PVC pipe have been constructed?
5. Was the camera broken or was it a user problem?
6. Was there a better way to wire the motors?
7. What made the vehicle slip from the dunes?
8. Why was the vehicle fragile?
9. What could have given the robot more power?
10. What could have been done to preserve battery power?
11. Which parts fell off of the robot and why weren’t they more securely placed?
12. What made the robotic vehicle difficult to operate?
In addition to these, we have included an extremely important question which we believe should be the base of these quaternary testing procedures:
13. Did the vehicle complete the task at hand successfully?

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