Company News • 18.08.2011
For highly available ATMs: Robot LoTTe tests systems around the clock
LoTTe is Wincor Nixdorf’s busiest system tester – she doesn’t even take a break on weekends. She withdraws cash from automated teller machines around the clock, and as soon as she finishes withdrawing the cash, she deposits it again. LoTTE – a Long Term Testing Robot – performs this sequence up to 1400 times per day in quality endurance testing that simulates the difficult requirements faced by ATMs in bank branches. After all, retail bank customers have neither the time nor patience for system problems; they expect self-service systems to be available around the clock, and that is precisely what LoTTe ensures.
The complexity of automated teller machines (ATMs) continues to increase. Today’s ATMs support a variety of new functions such as cash recycling, in which deposited banknotes are tested for validation and fitness and then dispensed again. However, this complexity results in more labor-intensive quality assurance of newly manufactured systems. LoTTe enables a reduction in manual labor by humans and simultaneously enables improvements in system quality.
LoTTe was invented by students at Paderborn’s Richard von Weizsäcker Vocational College, who developed a system for automated endurance testing as part of their training to become state-certified technicians. “The robot consists of mechanical components and a control unit that tests complete ATM installations, not just their individual components,” says Hubert Segin, who heads up software quality assurance. LoTTe tests both deposits and dispensing transactions as well as functions such as account balance inquiries and prepaid mobile phone top-ups.
In just one hour, LoTTe can complete up to 60 withdrawal transactions or test one of the many other functions that modern ATMs offer. The goal of all these tests is to maximize ATM availability so that Wincor Nixdorf can offer its customers an extraordinarily high functional stability and long system life.
