DEV Community: AROBS

Can technology save the world from itself?

AROBS — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 15:41:24 +0000

Can technology save the world from itself? Many hoped and dreamed about this, and we believe it even more because we are software developers. Tech for good is growing in popularity, and innovative industries could disrupt the system significantly over the next five years.
Net-zero carbon balance refers to the stage at which greenhouse gases can be neutralized by permanent and complete elimination.
The Paris Agreement requires states to 'achieve an equilibrium between anthropogenic emission by sources and removals from sinks of greenhouse gasses in the second half-century.'

The industries and the Tech for good

McKinsey published a recent study that stated that advanced technologies were crucial for preventing or slowing climate change. The IT industry has been rapidly developing these technologies. Five areas of tech development are highlighted in the study that gives hope that the net-zero balance will not be too far off in the future.

Electric transport, buildings, and (we might even add - Industry4.0)
The next green revolution in Agriculture
power grids for clean electricity.
hydrogen promises the future
Carbon capture, Use, and Storage

While the main objective of every business is to develop and scale, the greater interest is in sustainable scaling. It's not just about doing business. It's also about culture and the social impacts that any company has, both internally and externally. Collective social involvement is essential to achieve the goals. Tech for good offers many benefits beyond the ability to live in a cleaner, better-quality environment. Why spend when you can save?
Software development companies are significant players in the sustainability movement. Companies keen to focus on green initiatives will find it essential to develop innovative solutions that help the environment. After making the decision, you can choose the right technology to suit your business.

Get innovative today!

Let's look at the five above areas from a technical perspective, coming from a software development company. We are talking about smart farming and intelligent forestry, or innovative embedded systems for Domotics, for city projects integrating light systems and intelligent transportation.
The automotive industry is more and more in line with the current electrification trends. It designs advanced command and control solutions to critical components like powertrains, converters, belt-starter generators, and battery management systems for hybrid or "full" electric cars.
Future cities will use innovative transportation, light, and waste management technologies. This will make the world a more sustainable place. In the larger picture of a greener future, it is essential to consider projects such as Domotics that balance comfort with more responsible electricity use.

The High-tech used at the Tokyo Olympics 2020

AROBS — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 10:35:49 +0000

High tech reached a historically level at Tokyo Olympics 2020. Together, the 11500 athletes competed for 339 medals across 33 sports at the most exciting sports events. This event is the most advanced sports competition, yet it offers the best experience for both athletes and fans. Many It outsourcing companies were able to showcase the most recent technology thanks to software development, innovation, and AI.

The Tokyo Olympics was the place where elite athletes met. The fiesta of sports gods and goddesses was also where IoT met Automotive and Biomechanics.

The Tokyo Olympics and the fascinating sports technology

Record-breaking performances by athletes in large sports arenas are a hallmark of elite athletes. High tech provides the most accurate data analysis at this Olympic Games edition.

3D Athlete Tracking

This software uses AI (Artificial Intelligence), computer vision, and 3D to analyze athletes' movements in 3D. It then extracts data from athletes' forms, motions, and biomechanics with cameras. The algorithm for pose estimation can be easily visualized and broadcast. The spectators can view near-real-time analytics of the sprinting competitions. They can compare the performance of each competitor.

Autonomous driving for athletes

At the Tokyo Olympics, self-driving cars have been driving around athletes. These self-driving cars are powered by machine learning and can also carry sports equipment. Approximately 3700 mobility items allow athletes' transport, and 90% are electric cars.

Paralympics' e-mobility solutions use rechargeable lithium-ion battery technology. Each vehicle can transport up to 20 persons and four wheelchairs. They are level 4 autonomous drivers and do not require human interaction. An operator is available to cater for all athlete's needs.

High resolution and speed enabled by 5G technology.

Even though almost all of the Olympic and Paralympics competitions did not have spectators on-site, viewers can still enjoy the sport at super-high resolution and high speed thanks to 5G technology.

The 2021 Olympic Games was the first to use 5G technology. It was also the largest sporting event to use this technology for viewers. This technology allows new viewing angles and near-real-time streaming.

Medals are produced from recycled electronics.

Because technology is so resource-intensive, the Tokyo Olympics was the first to make the medals out of recycled electronics. Japan had previously launched a large-scale used-electronics collection campaign. It took two years for collecting enough used electronics to produce all the medals required by the winners.

Paralympics and the Olympics push tech and athletes to new heights.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding the timing of the Olympic Games opening ceremony, the event was a landmark on many levels. Even though the event did not allow spectators to view, it was a wonderful experience for viewers.

Paralympics and Olympics have always been great opportunities for athletes and technology in sports. These technologies include autonomous driving, 3D athlete tracking, and 5G technology.

We are ready for better Olympic experiences thanks to the technological innovation and combined efforts of tech innovators as well as sports organizers.

What can you do while your car drives itself?

AROBS — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 14:27:16 +0000

Autonomous driving is still not widely accepted. It is plausible, however, due to the increasing complexity of software development. Autonomy will make mobility safer and will fundamentally change the way we drive and engineer cars. This technology will allow drivers to have stress-free, focused, and valuable time. What would people do with all that time?
Modern society seems to be lacking something- time. Time is glorified as money. We imagine all the things that we could do if we had more time. Autonomous driving will provide some extra time for the driver as we are getting closer to the future of automotive engineering.
What to do with it?

Levels of autonomy
The majority of modern cars currently on the roads are autonomous to some degree. We are not yet ready to fully autonomous vehicles, which correspond to the fifth level of autonomy.
Here is a quick summary of the fifth level of autonomy:
• Level 0 - there is no automation in the car, and the human is totally responsible for the driving.
• Level 1 - An advanced driver assistance (ADAS) system can operate steering or brake/acceleration.
• Level 2 - the ADAS in the car can control the steering, the brake, and the acceleration.
• Level 3 - The vehicle's ADS can perform all aspects, but only in certain circumstances. It is necessary that the human monitors the driving process and is available to take control at any time. Modern vehicles already have this level of driver assistance.
• Level 4 - The ADS can drive and monitor all aspects of driving under certain conditions. This level is highly autonomous, and the driver doesn't have to pay attention to driving or the surrounding circumstances.
• Level 5 - The ADS can handle all aspects of driving regardless of the conditions. This level allows the human driver to travel while sleeping.
According to NHTSA, we have now reached level 3 autonomy. This fact means that the vehicle can have Partially Automated Safety features, Lane-keeping Assist, Traffic jam assistance, Lane-keeping aid, and even Self-parking.
What would people do with the free time enabled by fully automated vehicles?

Recent research by GenPop/Ipsos shows that most people will continue to pay attention to the road. The majority of European car owners were surveyed and said they would pay the most attention to the road and communicate with others. Only a small percentage of respondents said they would either take a break, relax or work during this plus time.
The results are similar in North America and Asia. These results show that drivers still don't trust the idea of fully autonomous driving.
Even if the widespread adoption of completely autonomous driving is yet to come, certain automated aspects are already facilitating driving for millions of drivers.

DevSecOps – the key to avoid security breaches

AROBS — Wed, 27 May 2020 10:54:46 +0000

Security measures have always been an important layer of the world wide web. But since Cambridge Analytica dropped the bomb on data protection, online security has received, justly, more attention, and became the main concern not only for the public but especially for software development and IT outsourcing providers, as well.
Furthermore, new legislation was implemented as a consequence, and unfolded the layers down to the source, by looking more closely at the software development processes. IT security has to play an integrated part in every step, especially now with the recent transfer of our, almost entire, life and workspace online. The circulation of data has increased considerably and possible security breaches are just a click away, sometimes. In this context, DevSecOps brings a whole necessary mindset that has to come prior to every action in the software development process.

DevSecOps – the new trinity

Development, security, operations – is the natural order in the “holy” chain of software development process nowadays. It’s meant to create a framework that shares the responsibility for the security through the whole lifecycle, to everyone involved. To restructure their mindset so they can be aware of the security levels required every step of the way, and at the same time, keep the speed of development at the established parameters.

As we previously mentioned, the massive movement online due to self-isolation restrictions can become a land of opportunities for hackers. They are waiting quietly to find the best moment to insert malware into applications, software or devices. Furthermore, if this happens during the building process of a software, it can end up being used by a considerable number of customers and create much bigger damage in the whole chain of stakeholders. Not to mention the effects on the company’s image, considering the fact that bad news becomes viral in matters of hours.

Hence, as a precaution for this kind of scenario, the DevSecOps mindset needs to be integrated into the software development workflow, and not later on in the cycle. The subsequent model was usually used in the waterfall framework, but now with the new Agile approach on projects, there is no need to wait. The integration can be made smoothly from the very start with secure coding best practices, and automation testing. It is the best way to avoid releasing code with vulnerabilities that can, later on, transform into big data breaches.

Respect the DevSecOps chain and you reduce the possible malware and cyber attacks.

How can your organization benefit from it

The benefits of DevSecOps are basic at first sight, though with a big impact, if you learn to see the bigger picture. Let’s not forget how easily can a security breakthrough can put on hold months of work and make you lose money. Or even worse, lose a client. So the solution is to increase automation down the software’s process and delivery’s pipeline. It will help eliminate mistakes and reduce downtime and cyber attacks. Also, down the line, continuous integration through software/ infrastructure hardening test and integration acceptance tests can lead to lowering the compliance cost and speeding up the delivery process and release on the market of the software/product.

Every organization should consider nowadays to bring all developers across their entire palette of technology disciplines to new levels of proficiency in matters of online security development. Building security layers within the software application is much more efficient than inserting them afterwards when the structure of the software might be harder to adapt.

The switch from simple DevOps to the updated version of DevSecOps mindset can ensure that every new project is less exposed to security threats and budget loss.

Obtain a smooth DevSecOps workflow

The infrastructure of the IT landscape has suffered exponential transformations and shifts in the last years. We switched to agile cloud computing platforms, sharing big data, and applications that had a great impact on companies and organizations, that reach out to IT outsourcing companies for collaborations in order to speed up their growth with technology. So, in this new scenery, paying attention to details such as the software development chain has never been more important. That’s why DevSecOps brings software development, operations, and security measures within the process all into the same circle. A circle meant to be hard to break.

If you haven’t switched to the DevSecOps mindset yet, here are a few tips or best practices that can help you obtain that smooth integration and workflow:

Automation testing opens the door for you – delivery speed must not be reduced – we now the rule! So, to avoid hitting the breaks on that, automation testing is your key. Introduce that early into the development process and you’ll be able to identify problems quickly enough to solve them before they slow down the deployment.

Think small – Before you feel contradicted by this, let us tell you what we mean by it. Start with small changes by adding testing tools into the DevOps working toolbox. Let them see how these can help them find errors in their code so they can trust the changes you want to make. Break down these new activities into manageable chunks.

Training can be essential – Train your teams properly regarding security measures. Sometimes the developers don’t even take in consideration that they’re coding in an insecure way, being so focused on speed and delivery. Hence, raising awareness over the subject can make a difference.

Get everybody on the same boat – In a classic software development model like a waterfall, or sometimes even in the agile framework approach, the developers and testers tend to throw things over the fence to one another. DevSecOps brings both teams under the same umbrella. If everyone takes responsibility for paying attention to security issues in their own work process, it is less likely for these to surface.

Better safe, than vulnerable

You know what they say – the best way to avoid a security breach is not having it in the first place. And this is not far from the truth, once you install into your organization the new DevSecOps mindset. Sharing big data, working in the cloud and with open-source software, can be both a privilege and an inconvenient, if you’re not seeing the whole picture. We have easy access to technology, but that is also a dangerous ground.

Software development companies and all IT outsourcing providers need to strengthen their security measures in all the production processes, to assure their clients that at the end of the day, the products released into the market are in a safe place from hackers and cyber threats.

DevSecOps is the safety net for your software’s development lifecycle, and to eliminate vulnerabilities before they even appear.

Photo by Nguyen Nguyen from Pexels and https://www.pexels.com/@pixabay

What to use in test cases? Two important tools in software testing

AROBS — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 12:13:45 +0000

We believe in the importance of the perfect combination of software developers and software testers. At AROBS, we are happy to present our partners, not only great software development teams backed up by a strong cohort of software testers.
We picked their brains to find out what tools they use to make sure that every product they work on our IT outsourcing projects is bug-free.

So, they gave us a plethora of cool names, like Zephyr, Bugzilla, Selenium and many others. Curious? Read below all about them!

Let us start with the beginning. As about project documentation, they use Confluence. It allows you to keep all the information and documentation of the project in one place. You can have your personal space to keep the personal information and a space for your team that holds the information that can be shared. Also, one of their favourites is JIRA, a particularly useful tool for project management and bug tracking. It is easy to use and allows you to create, categorize, assign and solve an issue.

How do our testers manage test cases?

They say: try Zephyr. This is a test management software that allows performing application tests and keeping track of the results. The test management software is accessible to hundreds of people which makes it very useful to large companies or large testing teams. Being available to so many people, Zephyr also allows communication on a global scale to increase speed in issue solving and keeping the projects moving.

The tools allow testers to plan, create and organize test cases. Based on the project needs, test cases can be fully customized based on test requirements, titles, even test cases sequences can be created. The assignment is also possible.

At the execution level, with Zephyr, you can perform manual or automated tests. For manual tests, the software can update every step in the test case and include relevant information in those steps. Once finished, the test case can be saved and made available to all the users.

For automated tests, Zephyr can be integrated with automated testing tools with the use of ZBots and APIs, such as Jenkins, Selenium, eggplant Functional, etc.

What happens when you find a bug? Zephyr offers integration with either Bugzilla or JIRA bug-tracking tools. This functionality allows users to create bug reports and document any information related to the bug, without switching between programs.

Zephyr is good for companies with small and large testing teams due to easy implementation, user-friendly interface, and easy navigation

Are you looking for a faster way to software testing?

Selenium is an open-source tool used for automation of the tests performed on the web browser. Be careful though, Selenium can test only web applications. Testing desktop application or mobile application is not possible.

Why makes Selenium so good for testing dynamic web applications? There are a few reasons why software testers use this tool. Selenium allows test scripts to be written in many programming languages like Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, .Net, etc. Test cases can be carried out in Windows, Linux or Max operating systems and any browser can be used, Google Chrome, Mozilla, Safari, Opera and even Internet Explorer. To manage test cases or generating reports, Selenium can be integrated with TestNG and Junit and for achieving Continuous Testing, integrate the tool with Jenkins, Docker, and Maven.

As we saw above, Selenium is a very flexible tool. What types of testing can be automated with Selenium?

• Performance testing
• Integration testing
• Compatibility testing
• System testing
• Regression testing
• End-top-end testing

Just to be clear, the automation testing tools are not meant to replace manual testing. Automation testing is used for processes that don’t have to involve human intervention.

For more reading on the tools we wrote about, please check:
https://www.getzephyr.com/
https://www.selenium.dev/