Robotic Process Automation RPA and Artificial Intelligence AI have been two terms ruling the newsfeed. But a common question arises every time you see these terms- Are these both the same? Or are they contrasting counterparts?

Robotic process automation has been used by firms to automate work. Automation has been prevalent in the workplace since quite a long time, but the tools have crucially evolved by the application of machine learning to the same to be referred to as RPA tools. RPA or Robotic Process Automation is employed to automate labor-intensive tasks that are highly redundant and recurring.

The main objective behind employing RPA is to replace all the tasks that don't need a human intervention by machines. These tasks don't involve serious decision making and crucial thinking. Robotic Process Automation works dependent on the instructions being fed to the system or robot. It helps to -

Eliminate errors-

 Human beings tend to make errors. Sometimes very small errors might lead to serious deviations and this might affect the efficiency of the tasks being done.

Increases the speed-

 Human beings tend to take regular breaks and might get tired. But this is not the case with machines! You can make them work continuously so you get your work done on time.

Boosts efficiency and throughput-

 These automated processes result in products and services being delivered with better efficiency and standards. Robotic process automation helps in attaining high throughput, that is, the production rate if these processes are employed would be maximum.

Now, how different is Artificial intelligence?

Artificial intelligence is all about creating machines that function, think and work just like human beings. If robotic process automation deals with doing repetitive tasks that are based on instructions fed to it, artificial intelligence is all about machines being able to take decisions just like human beings do. It involves information processing and taking rational decisions. Now to get a better idea, let us have a look at the different types of systems that exist as AI.

Self-driver cars-

 - Here they take decisions with respect to the past information, make predictions based on the situation and analyze the next move before a decision is made.

Machine learning-

  Machine learning is all about getting the system to act in the absence of programming. A lot of terms like machine vision, natural language processing, and robotics are synchronous with artificial intelligence.

Applications-

 - AI finds infinite scope in health care, used as chat bots. These systems are also used for improving customer satisfaction and in the education sector as well.

In short, Artificial intelligence and Robotic process automation, therefore, are two contrasting terms - One deal with performing automated tasks, and the other is for performing crucial tasks that involve a lot of thinking to be done. These both techniques complement each other in the development of a self-sustaining complex system. Artificial intelligence can be used to develop a system that takes decisions at a faster pace, and with elimination of errors, and at the same time, you can embed robotic automation to perform the tasks that are repetitive in nature.