An Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) being built for a Fortune 10 e-commerce company was in a difficult spot due to the complexity surrounding the Verification and Validation (V&V) of the system’s sensing-related safety functions. Performing V&V on the system proved a difficult challenge because of the redundant and diverse sensors, complex custom safety controllers, and sensing modules utilized on the robot. Constant firmware updates led to required regression testing to ensure key safety performance was maintained. Performing element level tests was time consuming and manual, with increasing complexity as the tests integrated subsystems and systems together. Fennec Engineering was brought in to assist with the test execution and safety validation for the robot, and approached the project with the following goals:
- Accelerate test execution through automated test execution and data aggregation
- Build trust with the NRTL assessor by presenting sensor detection data and robot safety controller data in a consistent manner using report templates
- Automatically generate test reports that summarize test run results, test case configurations, and associated safety requirements verified
- Build scalable, re-usable data processing scripts for element, subsystem, and system integration test plans
Fennec successfully improved the turn-around time from test execution to test report approval from weeks to hours.
Not only was test execution easier and more efficient, but Fennec was able to connect the Autonomous Robot Data Visualization and Report Creation (ARDVARC) tool for post-test processing, pass/fail determination, and assessor-ready report generation. These reports contained the safety requirements verified by each test, testing methodology, the overall pass/fail determination, and visualization of data for evidence of pass/fail according to the pre-defined criteria implemented in the tool’s metrics. It was estimated that the ARDVARC tool saved the program $MM and months off the critical path.
