Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a software technology that enables organizations to create, deploy, and manage software robots (often called “bots”) that can mimic human actions when interacting with digital systems and software applications. These digital workers are designed to automate repetitive, rule-based, and predictable tasks that were traditionally performed by human employees.
What an RPA Robot is NOT
Don’t let the word “robot” confuse you. When we hear the word “robot”, we typically picture something shaped like a human that does some pre-programmed physical task.
These types of robots are the result of sophisticated hardware and software engineering, and are widely used in manufacturing industries. This is NOT an RPA Robot.
What IS an RPA Robot?
At core, an RPA Robot is a piece of software installed on a computer that is capable of executing a package of other software. The package, called a job, is a bundled up piece of pre-programmed and compiled code that has been sent to it by a controller, or robot manager, usually via a special internet connection. The key here is that the RPA Robot is sitting on the machine, waiting for instructions. It lets the controller know that it is available by emitting a pulse, or heartbeat up to the controller every 30 seconds. This heartbeat mechanism lets the controller know the machine’s current status: busy, available, or unresponsive.
Once it receives a job, the Robot on the machine changes its status to busy, executes the job, sends back the results, and makes itself available again. The types of tasks it can execute can be anything that a human could do on that machine. Examples include: opening a browser, logging into any system, inputting data, reading or sending an email, fetching data off the web, copying and pasting data from one application to another, uploading to a database. Any repetitive, well-defined task is capable of being automated and executed by a bot. This sort of automation opens up possibilities for companies to free up employees for more quality and decision-based tasks instead of mundane, repetitive ones. The robot can handle automations completely independently of human interaction, called unattended, or it can work alongside the human, called attended, or both, in a hybrid way.
