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Comment by hugs | Hacker News Reader

While I got your time, how exactly is RPA different than a UI automation tool like Selenium?

Not the parent commenter, but I've also spent time this space. UIPath and other RPA tools interact with applications in the same way as Selenium, but also provide all the features that make it a 'platform' that enterprise IT folks can understand and approve (if not manage directly).

I like to say that it's easy enough to build a Selenium script for something simple like read a dozen PDF's and populate a webform, but when you scale to dozens of PC's running 24/7 (often in a broom closet because the client org hasn't mastered Cloud), then the features RPA tools offer like logging, security (you're using real application credentials to log in), scheduling and load balancing, and workflow management (this one failed, someone manually do it) start becoming useful, and more importantly, accessible to someone who doesn't necessarily have a developer background.

For web-only, it's worse.

For most enterprises, it provides a unified flow across the variety of technologies their core applications are built in: heavyweight Windows, mainframe, Java, etc.

(Thanks for all your work building awesome things!)

Thanks. I remember reading several blog posts by RPA vendors how RPA is totally not like Selenium... and the more I read the more suspicious I got.

Does it use anchor rules to identify target controls? Yes. Does it provide actions one can execute against those controls? Yes.

Most RPA vendors are cross-trained from the business side, rather than having a background in tech. So they're generally not very familiar with the broader tech world. (Their dev teams are, but those aren't the folks writing blog posts)

For web automation Selenium IDE is easier and more robust than UIPath.

And for Windows automation in general there are many tools like e. g. AHK, Sikuli or UI.Vision that combine Selenium features with RPA features. And they are free, open-source or at least very low cost compared to UIPath.

AHK [0], Sikuli [1] , and Ui.Vision [2] are extremely limited vs what a proper RPA framework will give you for Windows automation.

If your needs are minimal (e.g. test automation, because you don't care if it breaks 10% of the time), that's probably enough.

But they're definitely not the same class of tools.

[0] https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/commands/Control.htm

[1] http://doc.sikuli.org/match.html#Match

[2] https://ui.vision/rpa/x/desktop-automation

I have used all three and none of them "breaks 10% of the time". Why would it?

Of course, these tools are more lightweight and lack the advanced scheduling, monitoring and robot distribution features ("Orchestrator") that UIPath offers. But if one needs only straightforward task and test automation they are a good and reliable alternative.

Among other things: Citrix remote app compression, resolution changes, screen magnifier software for users with disabilities, lock screens.

These are all things I've had break visual matching in prod deployments.

The scheduling, monitoring, and distribution are (IMHO) the least interesting parts of UiPath. They're pretty trivial to build with other tech.

But a matching engine that offers a plethora of high level rule options, coupled with deep inspection capability, and fast runtime matching? That's a pretty big building block.

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