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Is Robotic Process Automation Becoming Intelligent? Early Evidence of Influences of Artificial Intelligence on Robotic Process Automation

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Business Process Management: Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation Forum (BPM 2020)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 393))

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Abstract

Advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing the nature of work and enable the increasing automation of tasks. The trend around AI technologies has also reached Robotic Process Automation (RPA). To date, RPA is known as a software solution that performs simple and routine tasks based on clearly defined rules. However, past research indicates that through the application of AI and Machine Learning technologies, RPA is starting to get “smart” by including intelligent features. Since little is known about the capabilities of intelligent RPA in academia, this paper examines how AI impacts the capabilities and applicability of RPA. Based on case studies with global RPA software providers and RPA integrators, evidence for cognitive capabilities within RPA is examined within the boundaries of a definition of cognitive intelligence. The paper also discusses the general necessity for cognitive intelligence within RPA software.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical University of Munich, Arcisstraße 21, 80335, Munich, Germany

    Johannes Viehhauser

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  1. Johannes Viehhauser
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Correspondence to Johannes Viehhauser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Aleksandre Asatiani

  2. Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    José María García

  3. Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Nina Helander

  4. Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

    Andrés Jiménez-Ramírez

  5. Kiel University, Kiel, Germany

    Agnes Koschmider

  6. WU Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Jan Mendling

  7. Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

    Giovanni Meroni

  8. Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hajo A. Reijers

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Viehhauser, J. (2020). Is Robotic Process Automation Becoming Intelligent? Early Evidence of Influences of Artificial Intelligence on Robotic Process Automation. In: Asatiani, A., et al. Business Process Management: Blockchain and Robotic Process Automation Forum. BPM 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 393. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_7

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-58778-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-58779-6

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