From Manual Testing to Automated Quality

In technical systems, hardware and software are closely intertwined. Errors that only arise from the interaction of both components often go undetected in manual testing and may only become apparent after delivery to customers.

Drawing on experience from industrial practice, the lecture traces the transition from manual hardware testing to automated quality assurance. It begins with the limitations of manual testing, particularly with regard to hidden defects and version incompatibilities. Building on this, it introduces hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing, which captures physical and timing errors that pure software tests fail to detect. The lecture then examines the challenges posed by growing test suites: long execution times, unreliable hardware, and the associated maintenance and documentation effort. Finally, it shows how integrating tests into a continuous integration pipeline enables the early detection of regressions and makes quality assurance independent of the diligence of individual developers.