Robotic Process Automation

Robotic process automation (RPA) is software that performs repetitive computer tasks by driving existing applications the way a person would, clicking buttons, reading fields, and typing values. A bot follows a recorded or scripted sequence across systems that expose no usable API, which is why RPA spread through finance, insurance, and public administration where legacy software is common. Typical work includes copying data between systems, generating recurring reports, reconciling records, and processing structured email requests. UiPath, Automation Anywhere, and Microsoft Power Automate are the main platforms, and they usually pair with OCR so a bot can read scanned invoices or forms. Adding language models moves the field toward what vendors call intelligent automation, where the model handles judgment, exception messages, and unstructured text while the bot handles deterministic clicking. The structural weakness is brittleness. Because a bot targets screen positions and element names rather than a stable contract, a vendor's interface update can break every affected process at once, and maintenance cost grows with the number of bots deployed. Where a real API exists, direct integration is far more durable, so RPA is best treated as a bridge for systems that cannot be integrated properly rather than a permanent architecture.