When carriers "test" their smartphones, what exactly does that mean? They're looking for how the phones interact with their network. But they're also interested in general performance and stability. T-Mobile has a smartphone-using robot that simulates normal user interaction in order to speed up that testing process.
This robot spends its days tapping away at on-screen elements and capacitive buttons while a watchful camera overhead tries to spot any anomalies. If an app crashes or freezes when it gets an input it’s not expecting, or at the wrong time, this robot will catch it.
But just because there’s a robot doing all the grunt work doesn’t mean that the human element isn't needed. T-Mobile’s engineers have to direct custom robot and interpret the results of its tests.