Foreign Object Detection
Apple Inc. : Product Safety Automation
Product Safety Engineers spends around 4–6 hours per day running simple tests that, while individually low in complexity, were required at high volume for certification.
“Low Complexity”
FOD testing in 3 simple steps
01.
Place Foreign Object
02.
Turn On Wireless Charger
03.
Collect Temperature Data
“High Volume”
how many testings we need to do per product every year?
x
3
Foreign Object Types
3
x
Foreign Object Location
2
State of Charges
x
2
Test Sequences
x
3
x
Spacer Heights
25
↓
Rx-Tx Alignment
2700
Total Tests per Product
How to better allocate time for engineers in order to maximize human problem-solving where it matters most?
Automation System
-
We built a robotic testing system that autonomously executes simple tests with minimal setup, removing the need for manual test execution by engineers.
-
The system manages all device preparation, including charging, draining, and configuring devices for each test scenario, ensuring consistent and repeatable test conditions.
-
Once running, the system executes tests continuously and unattended, including overnight. Its modular design allows horizontal scaling to run multiple systems in parallel and meet high-volume testing requirements.
Strength in Numbers
01 —
Test coverage per product
Manual testing
108
Bare minimum
tests per product · 3 people
10 min/test · 1 person per test
10 min/test · 1 person per test
Automated testing
2,700
Recommended
tests per product · 9 robots
5 min/test · runs unattended
5 min/test · runs unattended
25× more test coverage with automation · each square = 1 test
02 —
Time to Complete One Product
25×
more tests per product with automation
71×
slower if manual runs all 2,700 tests
1.05 days
automated time regardless of test count
03 —
Full Calendar View - 8 Products per Year
19.2 days
Manual · 108 tests (bare minimum)
600 days
Manual · 2,700 tests (recommended)
3.15 days
Automated · 2,700 tests (recommended)
04 —
Human Labor Hours per Product
Manual testing
36.5
person-hours per product
Automated testing
1.5
person-hours per product
Total labor — stacked view
Manual
36 hrs testing + 0.5 hrs setup
36.5 hrs
Automated
1.5 hrs
Annual totals — 8 products
292 hrs
Manual labor/year
36.5 hrs × 8 products
36.5 hrs × 8 products
12 hrs
Automated labor/year
1.5 hrs × 8 products
1.5 hrs × 8 products
280 hrs
Saved per year
96% reduction in labor
96% reduction in labor
Labor reduction
96%
less human labor per year with automation
280 hrs
freed up annually
35 days
person-days saved
1.5 hrs
per product needed
0 hrs
testing labor for 2,700 recommended tests