Robocorp announces the new era of Python automation.

We're excited to announce our new automation framework for Python automation – simply called robocorp. The project templates in our VS Code extension have been updated this week to use the new framework. The release builds on our open-source foundation and brings the experience of developing Python automation on par with Robot Framework on our platform.

We believe that large language models are revolutionizing the digital landscape and are thrilled to embrace this trend. Python is ideal for automation because of its extensive ecosystem of pre-built packages, rapid access to the latest innovations, and strong support in the AI community.

Our commitment is to ensure our customers get the latest advancements faster than with any proprietary tool. We made the following changes because we noticed that more and more projects on our platform are using Python exclusively, and based on the demand from the enterprise customers to better govern their already existing and fast-growing Python automation.

So, what's new? It is a complete revamp of Python automation on the Robocorp platform!

This new entry point for tasks eliminates unnecessary boilerplate code and makes the project structure easier to read. Any method decorated with @task becomes runnable and can thus be scheduled or managed as a part of a Process or Assistant in Control Room.

We've brought the loved logging features from Robot Framework to Python without you writing a single line of code. They are instantly available when developing and debugging locally from VS Code, and in production from Control Room after every run. And the interactive logs look beautiful in our opinion!

Furthermore, you can now control the logging with ease, suspending logs for sections dealing with sensitive data in several different ways. The image below shows just one example.

While our rpaframework libraries are based on Python, we believe we can enhance the developer experience for those who work exclusively on Python.

RPA Framework was designed and optimized for Robot Framework. We can create simple and intuitive APIs familiar to Python developers with the new libraries.

RPA Framework wraps some standard Python packages and makes their features easy to use in Robot Framework. When working on Python, the source SDKs or packages are easy to use. While reducing the environment size, we also reduce the size of our maintainable codebase.

Fully leverage the capabilities of Python such as dealing with complex data structures and APIs - something a lot of the developers working on Robocorp already did in Python code.

The new robocorp automation libraries roll out focusing on common automation tasks (Excel, browser, APIs) and interacting with Robocorp Control Room (such as Vault, Asset Storage, and Work Items). We still support all current rpaframework features for both Python and Robot Framework developers, and you can include both robocorp and rpaframework to your project simultaneously.

New Python Templates in VS Code and Portal

The easiest way to start using these new capabilities is through the new Python templates in VS Code. They are already available!

Minimal - just the basics in place to get you started

Browser automation with Playwright - shows how to solve the RPA Challenge

Producer/Consumer - demonstrates the usage of Robocorp Work Items for scalable automation

What doesn't change? Our commitment to Robot Framework automation has not changed; we are only adding the power and versatility of Python, which furthers our dedication to open-source as a whole. All things released now are under the Apache 2 license.

Looking ahead, we are excited about several improvements:

Enhancing our Robocorp Code Extension for VS Code to support Python projects better, including the visual Flow View that users praise and simplified management of project dependencies.

Improving Playwright Support in Browser Automation. As Playwright has been gaining traction, we're working to provide an equivalent or superior experience to what Selenium and Robot Framework offer.

Continual additions to Documentation, Courses, and Tutorials. We've released these new tools and libraries ahead of complete documentation to gather early feedback from users. Please be assured all this is already in the works.

Offer a migration guide and possibly tools leveraging LLMs to help convert old projects to the framework.

To complement what we are doing with Python and Robot Framework, Robocorp will release a series of AI-driven tools to drive easier, faster, and better-designed automation.  We aim to empower enterprises through intelligent bots, enabling faster, scalable, more secure bot implementations and offering connections to AI ecosystems from the latest commercial LLMs to a community of fast-developing open-source models.

For any questions, feel free to contact me, Tommi, VP of Product at Robocorp at tommi@robocorp.com. We're eager to hear your feedback and answer any queries you may have. We are excited to define the future of automation together with our amazing customers!

Unleashing the Power of Python in Automation

Dive into the transformation happening on the Robocorp platform, where we bid farewell to old terminology. Say goodbye to the word 'Robot' and embrace the simplicity of 'Task.' Learn how this change simplifies processes, enhances clarity, and paves the way for smoother automation. Stay updated with the latest developments in the Robocorp universe. Explore the future of automation with us

The title is misleading. On purpose. 😇

Obviously we are not saying bye to robots, bots or any other cute creatures. We are merely cleaning up the language that has caused confusion among our users for quite some time.

Let’s look at the starting point. Robot on Robocorp platform has been a word to describe “the code”. Either a package uploaded to Control Room, or something that is managed in a git repo and then connected to the Control Room. Each Robot had 1..n Tasks, which are the things you build Processes from. Ok clear?

The problem is that the word Robot comes with a lot of loaded expectations for people used to some of the other platforms. On some platforms Robot means (loosely) a licence. So the confusion has been granted.

Now we are fixing this. The solution: Just drop the word Robot. 💁‍♂️

It actually is as simple as that. We already have a word Task for something a developer creates, we are elevating that word everywhere across platform. One Task, many Tasks, and when wrapped to a Task Package with developer tools, they can be added to and used in the Control Room to compose Processes and Assistants. The image below shows the direction we are taking with the Task Packages view in the Control Room. Details might still change a bit during implementation.

Changing the the terminology everywhere will take some time, but we are starting this week. Further updates in various parts of the product will follow along with the other releases. Make sure to follow the release notes.

When it comes to Processes (unattended) and Assistants (attended), nothing changes. But as a reminder, one of the strengths of the platform is how the code (Tasks) and something runnable (Processes) are decoupled, enabling easy re-use of components.

Processes are made up from Steps. Very simply put, a Step is a combination of a chosen Task, the Worker that provides the runtime and the environment variables that may be used to configure the execution.

But for now, join us in saying bye bye to Robots. 👋

Revolutionizing Automation: Bye Bye Robot, Hello Task

Bye Bye Robots

Harnessing the power of large language models with code-generation, ReMark💬 helps developers leverage the full potential of the Robocorp platform, making development faster and more efficient.

Harnessing the power of large language models with code-generation, ReMark💬 helps developers leverage the full potential of the Robocorp platform, making development faster and more efficient. It's available starting today!

Software development often begins with a blank canvas – an intimidating sight for even the most experienced developers. That's where ReMark💬 steps in. However, the features are not limited to getting you started with the development. Chat interface is great at iterating solutions, spotting errors and helping developers to discover the best keywords to use from the libraries spanning thousands of options.

ReMark💬 is an excellent example of how code-generation is revolutionizing the automation landscape that previously was mostly filled with vendor specific low-code tools. By generating robust, functional code snippets, it serves as an invaluable companion in your automation journey - for beginners and seasoned developers alike.

Unlike generic chat assistants like ChatGPT, ReMark💬 has a unique focus - automation development on the Robocorp platform. It's not just a chatbot, it's like a knowledgeable senior developer, familiar with Robocorp's tooling and automation libraries. It's been trained on thousands lines of real automation examples and documentation, ensuring that ReMark💬 provides relevant assistance to developers in their day-to-day tasks.

Being Python-based, Robocorp provides a significant advantage when it comes to code generation. Unlike proprietary RPA tools that operate within a closed system, our platform opens the gate to the vast universe of Python automation libraries.

For example, demonstrating how to use Playwright for high-performance browser automation and rpaframework for connecting with Java-based ERP apps, ReMark💬 makes it super easy to get started with automation projects.

Starting today ReMark💬 is available as a standalone chat.  This is just the beginning, as our plan is to seamlessly integrate it into our developer tools such as VS Code. In our vibrant Slack community of 15k automation developers, we have already been experimenting chat based support with a company called Kapa.ai. It’s been a great success with hundreds of thumbs-up answers in just a short time, validating the technology is ready for the prime time. We plan to take this even further.

When it comes to ReMark💬’s “knowledge”, there are several avenues to take. We foresee it becoming a great help with broader solutions, integrations or recommending the best 3rd party Python libraries from the open-source community.

Like any assistant – robotic or human – ReMark💬 may not always have the perfect answer. The days of code generation and chat assistants are still early, and we're committed to continuous iteration to achieve the highest standard of results. We encourage you to be critical of whatever a chat tells you and share your experiences with us!

ReMark💬 is based on a two-step approach loosely modeled after LangChain’s “Chat Over Documents with Chat History” example. We leverage a locally hosted vector database (Chroma) and Open AI API for LLMs.

The first step involves searching for the relevant information needed to answer a question from various stores and currently uses gpt-3.5-turbo. The second step uses that information to generate a comprehensive response and uses gpt-4.

This architecture also enabled a fancy but handy feature: generating the “next best questions” for you. At the end of ReMark💬’s replies, you can always see questions that might be the most relevant to ask next. Saves the trouble of writing!

ReMark💬 is a groundbreaking step in our ongoing mission to make automation development as efficient and user-friendly as possible - helping our customers achieve the highest possible ROI.

Happy automation coding together with ReMark💬!

Blog

Robocorp offers its clients the ability to build, scale, deploy, and maintain their robot workforce.

All posts by Tommi Holmgren

Unleashing the Power of Python in Automation

Bye Bye Robots

Introducing ReMark💬 – Robocorp's Generative AI Assistant for Automation Developers

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