45 min

Let The Robots Do The Work Using Robotic Process Automation with Robocorp The Python Podcast.__init__

    • Technology

Summary
One of the great promises of computers is that they will make our work faster and easier, so why do we all spend so much time manually copying data from websites, or entering information into web forms, or any of the other tedious tasks that take up our time? As developers our first inclination is to "just write a script" to automate things, but how do you share that with your non-technical co-workers? In this episode Antti Karjalainen, CEO and co-founder of Robocorp, explains how Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help us all cut down on time-wasting tasks and let the computers do what they’re supposed to. He shares how he got involved in the RPA industry, his work with Robot Framework and RPA framework, how to build and distribute bots, and how to decide if a task is worth automating. If you’re sick of spending your time on mind-numbing copy and paste then give this episode a listen and then let the robots do the work for you.

Announcements

Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
When you’re ready to launch your next app or want to try a project you hear about on the show, you’ll need somewhere to deploy it, so take a look at our friends over at Linode. With the launch of their managed Kubernetes platform it’s easy to get started with the next generation of deployment and scaling, powered by the battle tested Linode platform, including simple pricing, node balancers, 40Gbit networking, dedicated CPU and GPU instances, and worldwide data centers. Go to pythonpodcast.com/linode and get a $100 credit to try out a Kubernetes cluster of your own. And don’t forget to thank them for their continued support of this show!
We’ve all been asked to help with an ad-hoc request for data by the sales and marketing team. Then it becomes a critical report that they need updated every week or every day. Then what do you do? Send a CSV via email? Write some Python scripts to automate it? But what about incremental sync, API quotas, error handling, and all of the other details that eat up your time? Today, there is a better way. With Census, just write SQL or plug in your dbt models and start syncing your cloud warehouse to SaaS applications like Salesforce, Marketo, Hubspot, and many more. Go to pythonpodcast.com/census today to get a free 14-day trial.
Software is read more than it is written, so complex and poorly organized logic slows down everyone who has to work with it. Sourcery makes those problems a thing of the past, giving you automatic refactoring recommendations in your IDE or text editor while you write (I even have it working in Emacs). It isn’t just another linting tool that nags you about issues. It’s like pair programming with a senior engineer, finding and applying structural improvements to your functions so that you can write cleaner code faster. Best of all, listeners of Podcast.__init__ get 6 months of their Pro tier for free if you go to pythonpodcast.com/sourcery today and use the promo code INIT when you sign up.
Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Antti Karjalainen about the RPA Framework for automating your daily tasks and his work at Robocorp to manage your robots in production

Interview

Introductions
How did you get introduced to Python?
Can you start by giving an overview of what Robotic Process Automation is?
What are some of the ways that RPA might be used?

What are the advantages over writing a custom library or script in Python to automate a given task?
How does the functionality of RPA compare to automation services like Zapier, IFTTT, etc.?


What are you building at Robocorp and what was your motivation for starting the business?

Who is your target customer and how does that inform the products that you are building?


Can you give an overview of the state of the ecosystem for RPA tools and products and how Robocorp and RPA framework fit within it?

How does the RPA Framework relate to

Summary
One of the great promises of computers is that they will make our work faster and easier, so why do we all spend so much time manually copying data from websites, or entering information into web forms, or any of the other tedious tasks that take up our time? As developers our first inclination is to "just write a script" to automate things, but how do you share that with your non-technical co-workers? In this episode Antti Karjalainen, CEO and co-founder of Robocorp, explains how Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can help us all cut down on time-wasting tasks and let the computers do what they’re supposed to. He shares how he got involved in the RPA industry, his work with Robot Framework and RPA framework, how to build and distribute bots, and how to decide if a task is worth automating. If you’re sick of spending your time on mind-numbing copy and paste then give this episode a listen and then let the robots do the work for you.

Announcements

Hello and welcome to Podcast.__init__, the podcast about Python and the people who make it great.
When you’re ready to launch your next app or want to try a project you hear about on the show, you’ll need somewhere to deploy it, so take a look at our friends over at Linode. With the launch of their managed Kubernetes platform it’s easy to get started with the next generation of deployment and scaling, powered by the battle tested Linode platform, including simple pricing, node balancers, 40Gbit networking, dedicated CPU and GPU instances, and worldwide data centers. Go to pythonpodcast.com/linode and get a $100 credit to try out a Kubernetes cluster of your own. And don’t forget to thank them for their continued support of this show!
We’ve all been asked to help with an ad-hoc request for data by the sales and marketing team. Then it becomes a critical report that they need updated every week or every day. Then what do you do? Send a CSV via email? Write some Python scripts to automate it? But what about incremental sync, API quotas, error handling, and all of the other details that eat up your time? Today, there is a better way. With Census, just write SQL or plug in your dbt models and start syncing your cloud warehouse to SaaS applications like Salesforce, Marketo, Hubspot, and many more. Go to pythonpodcast.com/census today to get a free 14-day trial.
Software is read more than it is written, so complex and poorly organized logic slows down everyone who has to work with it. Sourcery makes those problems a thing of the past, giving you automatic refactoring recommendations in your IDE or text editor while you write (I even have it working in Emacs). It isn’t just another linting tool that nags you about issues. It’s like pair programming with a senior engineer, finding and applying structural improvements to your functions so that you can write cleaner code faster. Best of all, listeners of Podcast.__init__ get 6 months of their Pro tier for free if you go to pythonpodcast.com/sourcery today and use the promo code INIT when you sign up.
Your host as usual is Tobias Macey and today I’m interviewing Antti Karjalainen about the RPA Framework for automating your daily tasks and his work at Robocorp to manage your robots in production

Interview

Introductions
How did you get introduced to Python?
Can you start by giving an overview of what Robotic Process Automation is?
What are some of the ways that RPA might be used?

What are the advantages over writing a custom library or script in Python to automate a given task?
How does the functionality of RPA compare to automation services like Zapier, IFTTT, etc.?


What are you building at Robocorp and what was your motivation for starting the business?

Who is your target customer and how does that inform the products that you are building?


Can you give an overview of the state of the ecosystem for RPA tools and products and how Robocorp and RPA framework fit within it?

How does the RPA Framework relate to

45 min

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