I Stopped Testing Embedded Systems by Hand. Here's What Replaced It.
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A 15-year embedded systems veteran explains how to replace manual terminal-based firmware testing with automated Python scripts using OpenHTF, a framework originally built at Google for manufacturing-line testing. The setup requires only a laptop, USB cable, and the development board — no CI server or dedicated test lab. Around 150 lines of Python cover flashing firmware via ST-Link, capturing boot banners over UART, and validating version strings, with all machine-specific config in YAML for portability. GitHub Copilot is used as a spec-driven co-author to generate test phase scaffolding and hardware interface drivers (plugs), dramatically reducing the time cost of writing new tests. The approach targets the often-missing system-level layer of the embedded testing pyramid, catching quiet regressions that manual verification misses.
