Robotic process automation (RPA)

Robotic process automation (RPA): Software robots that repeat fixed steps by operating user interfaces as a person would. Best for legacy systems without APIs; brittle when interfaces change.

Why it matters

RPA remains useful for stable, structured, high-volume tasks in systems without APIs. It struggles when screens change or inputs vary, which is where AI models help. Many modern systems combine the two: RPA or APIs for moving data between systems, a model for reading and deciding, and people for exceptions.

Related terms

• AI automation: Automation in which AI models perform judgement steps (classifying, extracting, drafting, routing) inside a workflow that also uses deterministic rules and a human review path.

Where it comes up

• What is the difference between AI automation and RPA?
• AI Automation vs RPA vs Workflow Tools: Which Does Your Process Need?
• Agentic AI for Business: What It Is and What Actually Works

In practice

In a Sudo Sapient sprint, this sits inside AI Automation: one operational workflow taken from manual to automated in 6–8 weeks, with human review on uncertain cases. See the services page on sudosapient.com.