In recent years, the implementation of robotic process Automation (RPA) as a software solution has increased drastically on a worldwide scale. A recent market report by the research firm Everest Group suggests the 2016 RPA vendor market was estimated to be more than $200 million, indicating more than 64% growth in one year. But another measurement of RPA’s influence stems from the developments and evolutions in automation technology and capability. The term “robotic process automation” first came into use in the early 2000s, and early forms of the technology were an extension of RPA’s predecessors: data scraping and workflow automation tools. Yet having surpassed the capabilities of data scraping and workflow automation, RPA has made — and continues to make — significant strides in advancing the operational automation of two decades ago. Most recently, RPA is transitioning from merely automating the user interface (UI) to incorporating the capabilities of a new field: artificial intelligence (AI).