Open Source RPA – The new face of innovation and the next evolutionary step in RPA | IA – Part 3 of 6
The sign of a maturing market can often be judged by the amount of innovation happening within an industry or sector and Open Source RPA is no different. In Part 1 we introduced Open Source RPA. In part 2 we looked a variety of Open Source RPA platform providers and today we continue that trend and look at TagUI, RPA for Python, Robin and OpenBots.
TagUI plus picture
A command-line tool that enables digital process automation. Maintained by AI Singapore, this government-funded application helps in the creation of local artificial intelligence capabilities.
Figure 1: TagUI Interface
TagUI’s Ken Soh has been quoted as saying that TagUI, an Open Source tool maintained by the government funded initiative AI Singapore is a Command Line Interface and it is suitable for
- OCR (built-in)
- UI automation
- Desktop Applications
- Web Applications
- Direct ML model Integration (with API / R code / Python)
Top Features
- Easy to use interface and natural language like-syntax feature eliminates the need for coding knowledge
- Promotes the visual automation of websites and desktops
- You can use TagUI to write in over 20 human languages as well as JavaScript e.g. English, Chinese, Japanese.
- It offers the option of extension for recording web action
- Automates Chrome in both visible and invisible modes.
- Can integrate it with Python and R integration for big data, AI, and ML.
Video 1: Open source RPA – Tag UI Demos: Modify MS template & email, Email forex rates, Order Groceries, Hindi RPA, Python RPA (Bot Nirvana)
Platforms : Windows, Linux, Mac OS
RPA For Python
Previously dubbed ‘TagUI for Python’, this is a Python package for RPA development. Built on AI Singapore’s TagUI open-source RPA software, RPA capabilities out-of-the-box for this package include website automation, computer vision automation, optical character recognition, keyboard & mouse automation.
Figure 2: RPA for Python Architecture
Top 5 Features
- Supports iOS and Android application
- Quite easy to create new libraries out of Python or Java code
- Can add orchestration functionality through Jenkins plugins
- offers website automation, computer vision automation, optical character recognition, and keyboard-and-mouse automation as its fundamental capabilities.
Video 2: Digital process automation (RPA) using TagUI for Python – PyCon SG 2019
Platforms : Windows, Linux, Mac OS
OpenBots
OpenBots is a relatively new Open Source tool on the market that comes with process bot studio development, process discovery and bot orchestration capabilities. It is free (bar a fee for commercial support) software based on TaskT OpenSource project (http://www.taskt.net/) and built on the .NET Framework in C#.
Figure 3: OpenBots Studio
It’s creator Ahsish says that OpenBots it is suitable for
a) Large Scale Enterprise RPA Deployments and Digital Transformation Initiatives.
b) Small to Mid Size Organizations to use Cloud Services and quickly get started with Automations.
Figure 4: OpenBots RPA Platform (OpenBots)
Top 5 Features
- OpenBots Studio (Open Source Developer Tool for building Simple to Complex Automations)
- OpenBots Server (Open Source Orchestrator for managing unlimited Bots)
- OpenBots Discovery (A SAAS based OpenBots Process Discovery and Analysis tool)
- OpenBots Documents (A SAAS based Intelligent Document Processing tool)
- OpenBots Academy (Free Online training Academy with multiple courses)
Video 3: An introduction to OpenBots (Author and OpenBots CEO)
Robin (now part of Microsoft)
The final tool in todays list of Open Source RPA tools is Robin. Robin is a free open source and effective programming language used for building RPA software bots.
Figure 5: Robin RPA Programming Language
Easy to learn with simple syntax. Robin runs on .Net CLR. While there are many tools for RPA, with Robin users can build their own automation or software bots.
Video 4: An introduction to Robin by Nandan Mullakara (Bot Nirvana).
Robin is programming language used for building RPA software bots language, not a full-fledged tool ecosystem with queues or a control room.
Robin resources:
Robin website: https://robin-language.org
Github link: https://github.com/robin-language/robin
Getting started: https://robin-language.org/docs/quick…
Robin Examples: https://robin-language.org/docs/examp…
Documentation: https://robin-language.org/docs
Tool download: https://robin-language.org/download/r…
Forum: https://forum.robin-language.org/
Conclusion
There is increasing potential for firms to leverage Open Source RPA. There are a great many Open Source RPA providers on the market giving firms a choice of platform.
About the authors: Digital Transformation expert. Kieran is recognised as an intelligent automation, data analytics and robotic process automation industry leader. He writes and talks extensively about better ways for businesses to use digital and intelligent automation technologies to drive business performance. Follow Kieran on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kierangilmurray/, join hom monthly on LinkedIn live https://www.linkedin.com/company/third-thursday or connect on Twitter https://twitter.com/KieranGilmurray.
My Expertise: I’m an intelligent automation, data analytics, robotic process automation and digital transformation expert. For the past 25+ years I have been driving business transformation across a range of industries using; common sense, digital technologies, intelligent automation, data analytics, artificial intelligence and robotics process automation. This has generated millions of dollars of value. I solve complicated problems others can’t. I am happy to help advise you to support solve your unique business challenges.
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