Defect classification in robotic process automation

Abstract

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technique mainly aimed at automating desktop tasks by creating bots that mimic human behavior. In the RPA, code smells causing defects are considered to have different characteristics from those of conventional programs. Therefore, this study defines a taxonomy for RPA based on code reviews and classifies the code smells. The result of this classification demonstrates the importance of using existing commands provided by RPA tools as much as possible to prevent defects from being introduced. In addition, it was observed that the setting of the waiting time of the process is also important for RPA bots. A preliminary defect detection tool that uses code reviews and code similarities was also developed. As a result of an evaluation, it was concluded that the regularity of the code generated by the RPA would result in high accuracy.