Operation Automation With Adaptive Web Element Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional robotic process automation (RPA) systems struggle to identify and operate web elements when the description of a web page changes, leading to failed automation processes due to the inability to locate the target web element after updates.
Innovation Solution
An operation automation system that stores scenarios with web page identifiers and analysis information about operation target and surrounding web elements, using a scenario executor to determine the presence of the target element, analyze the updated page, and select new operation targets based on similarity indices and machine learning models to adapt to changes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional RPA systems use fixed web element identifiers to automate web operations, then automation processes can execute reliably on unchanged pages, but the system fails when web page descriptions change and target elements cannot be located
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-acquires web page content before automation execution and stores it as reference data. This preliminary action creates a baseline against which changes can be detected, allowing the system to adapt when web page descriptions change while maintaining reliable automation execution.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs determination processes to check whether target web elements exist on the current web page. When elements are not found, the system provides feedback by notifying users of the mismatch and enabling manual input of corrected element identifiers, creating a closed-loop feedback mechanism that restores automation reliability after web page changes.
2Measurement precision
If RPA systems manually update automation scenarios when web pages change, then accuracy of element identification is maintained, but time consumption and operational complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically detects web page changes by comparing current web page content with pre-acquired reference content. This self-service capability eliminates the need for manual intervention in most cases, maintaining high identification accuracy while significantly reducing the time required for scenario maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces a determination process as an intermediary between web page changes and automation execution. This intermediary automatically compares element identifiers against current page content, resolving identification accuracy issues without requiring direct manual intervention, thus saving time while maintaining precision.
3Adaptability or versatility
If RPA systems perform comprehensive web page analysis to detect element changes, then adaptability to page updates improves, but system complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the specific web element identifiers needed for automation from the comprehensive web page content. By taking out only the relevant portion (element identifiers) rather than analyzing the entire page structure, the system achieves effective change detection while minimizing analysis complexity and processing overhead.
4Reliability
If RPA systems re-execute entire scenarios after web page changes, then completeness of automation is ensured, but productivity and efficiency decrease due to redundant operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the automation scenario into individual operations with specific web element targets. When web page changes are detected, only the affected segmented operations are identified and updated rather than re-executing the entire scenario. This maintains completeness of automation while improving productivity by eliminating redundant operations.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage stores a scenario including a web page identifier, an operation target web element identifier, and a web operation on the operation target web element and stores auxiliary information for identifying the operation target in a web page. A scenario executor reads a web page of the web page identifier included in the scenario with a web browser, determines whether or not the operation target web element identifier is present within the read web page. The scenario executor selects a new operation target web element by analyzing content of the read web page using the auxiliary information when it is determined that the operation target web element identifier is absent in the determination process, and performs a web operation described in the scenario for the web element selected in the analysis process.