JCSE, vol. 14, no. 1, pp.19-25, March, 2020

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5626/JCSE.2020.14.1.19

MIORPA: Middleware System for Open-Source Robotic Process Automation

Myeong-Ha Hwang, Ui-Kyun Na, Seungjun Lee, ByungJoo Cho, Yeri Kim, DongHyuk Lee, and JiKang Shin
Digital Solution Laboratory, Korea Electric Power Research Institute (KEPRI), Daejeon, Korea

Abstract: Introduction of robotic process automation (RPA) in simple repetitive task automation initiated its research and development in various fields. The high demand for RPA has expanded the global market. However, the disadvantages include the high cost of commercial RPA products and limited functional expansion. Therefore, it is necessary to design opensource RPA to minimize the cost and manage the execution of multiple RPA jobs. We propose a middleware system called MIORPA to control open-source RPA robots. The proposed middleware system provides a job-scheduling algorithm for assignment of tasks to multiple RPA robots in multiple middleware environments. Further, MIORPA provides watchdog-based RPA robot status monitoring, and the status of the RPA robot can be identified and managed in real time. Therefore, when a large number of users request RPA, the work is distributed and processed efficiently. Thus, this study contributes towards research into the control of RPA robots.

Keyword: Robotic process automation; Middleware; Job scheduling; Watchdog

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