Employees today have necessary daily tasks that do not require human handling. The objective is to investigate two processes if they are suitable for automation as well as to create and evaluate a prototype. The goals are to analyze the process, examine appropriate tools for automation, compare the tools, create and evaluate prototype, and perform an acceptance test. Robotic Process Automation is about automating tasks that humans have to do. Good candidates for automation are time-consuming, repetitive, rule-based tasks, prone to human er- rors with clear goals and expectations. The preliminary study was conducted in the form of a literature study of web-based sources, and the analysis was done by breaking down the process in different parts. The comparison was carried out by investigating the features of these tools. The prototype was created on Windows in UiPath tools and the robot will work on Internet Explorer and Excel, which will have a macro written in Visual Basic for Applications. The client will look at the criteria given and also on the prototype output and provide a subjective response. UiPath, Workfusion, and Selenium test programs were created. The prototype automatically logs on to Visma PX by entering username and password. Then it navigates, searches for an assignment and retrieves the data available. Indata is filtered and typed into Excel for each activity and employee. Finally, a macro creates graphs. Time tests show that UiPath is significantly more optimized and faster at completing the test programs. UiPath has strong benefits with its tools. / Anställda idag har nödvändiga vardagsuppgifter som inte kräver mänsklig inverkan och tanken är att frigöra dessa uppgifter. Projektets övergripande syfte är att undersöka två processer om de är lämpliga för automation samt att skapa och utvärdera en prototyp. Målen är att analysera processen, undersöka lämpliga verktyg för automatisering, jämföra verktygen, skapa en prototyp, utvärdera prototypen och utföra ett acceptanstest. Robotic Process Automation handlar om att automatisera uppgifter som människor gör. Bra kandidater för automatisering är tidskrävande, repetitiva, regelbaserade uppgifter, benägna till mänskliga fel med klara mål och förväntningar. Förstudien genomfördes i form av en litteraturstudie av webbaserade källor och analysen gjordes genom att bryta ner processen i olika delar. Jämförelsen genomfördes genom att undersöka de funk- tioner som verktygen har. Prototypen skapas på Windows i verktygen UiPath och roboten kommer att arbeta på Internet Explorer och mot Excel som kommer ha ett makro skrivet i Visual Basic for Applications. Beställaren kommer att titta på de kriterier som gavs och även på prototypens utdata och ge en subjektiv respons. Testprogrammen i UiPath, Workfusion och Selenium skapades med sina respektive funktioner. Prototypen loggar automatiskt in på Visma PX genom att skriva in användarnamn och lösenord. Sedan navigerar den i verktyget, söker på ett uppdrag och hämtar den data som finns. Indata filtreras och skrivs in i Excel för varje aktivitet och anställd. Slutligen körs ett makro som skapar grafer. Tidstesterna visar att UiPath är betydligt mer optimerad och snabbare på att slutföra testprogrammen. Jämförelserna visar att UiPath har starka fördelar med sitt verktyg.

Cada vez mais robôs móveis autônomos estão sendo utilizados em diversas tarefas e em ambientes com elevado risco para atividades humanas que a paralisação de suas atividades podem gerar outros riscos, perdas e elevados custos. Assim, o estado de carga (SOC) de sistemas de baterias em robôs móveis autônomos é um parâmetro importante na prevenção de uma falha primária nessa aplicação, a ausência de energia. Este trabalho apresenta os métodos existentes na literatura para a determinação do estado de carga de baterias e as tecnologias de baterias disponíveis utilizadas em robôs móveis autônomos ou veículos autônomos guiados. A partir desses estudos foi desenvolvido um modelo de medida, baseado no modelo combinado e foram realizados testes de bancadas para levantamento dos parâmetros e características de três modelos de células de baterias: Lítio Polímero (Li-PO), Níquel-Cádmio (NiCd) e Lítio-Ferro-Polímero (LiFePO4). Com esses parâmetros, aplicou-se o método de estimativa de carga baseado na técnica do Filtro de Kalman Estendido (EKF). Através dos testes, analisou-se comparativamente a resposta do método proposto e a resposta do método OCV e a capacidade de carga real. / Autonomous mobile robots have being increasingly used in various tasks, environments and activities of high risk to human that the stoppage of its activities may generate other risks, losses and high costs. Thus the state of charge (SOC) of battery systems in autonomous mobile robots, is an important parameter to prevent a primary failure in this application, the lack of energy. The paper presents the existing methods in the literature to determine the battery state of charge and battery commercial technologies available used in an autonomous mobile robot or autonomous guided vehicle, from these studies a measurement model based on combined model was developed and testing benches for three cells models on Lithium Polymer Battery (Li-PO), Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) and lithium-iron-Polymer (LiFePO4) batteries were performed for lifting the parameters and apply the battery state of charge method based on the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) technique. The tests were analyzed in order to observe the comparatively response of the proposed method, the OCV method and Real charge capacity.

This work is concerned by the issue of calibrating a robotic workplace, including the localization of a calibration object for the purpose of calibrating a 2D or 3D camera, a robotic arm and a scene of robotic workplace. At first, the problems related to the calibration of the aforementioned elements were studied. Further, an analysis of suitable methods for performing these calibrations was performed. The result of this work is application of ROS robotic system providing methods for three different types of calibration programs, whose functionality is experimentally verified at the end of this work.

The aim of the thesis is conceptual design of robotic workplace with its subsequent simulation. The current workplace for manufacturing and deburring parts for automotive industry is operated manually. The plan is overall automation and replacement of operators by robots. The thesis deals with the concept of layout of elements in the cell, and the procedure of their selection or design. Process simulation is performed in the Process Simulate software from Siemens. For the purposes of the work is used RCS module, which on the basis of dynamic conditions can calculate the cycle of production very close to the reality. The production cycle is compared to the current workplace. The work also deals with the economic evaluation of the proposed workplace.

The thesis deals with design of robotic cell for operation with CNC machine. When CNC machine is machining, inactive robot is used for deburring specific edges on the workpiece with help of pneumatic spindles. Thesis include design of end-effectors for handling and deburring operations, design and placement of individual parts of robotic cell. Part of the thesis deals with safety of the cell. Next part of thesis is focus on finding out cycle time of the robot. Robot have to manage cooperate with CNC machine and deburr edges in time. Cycle time is find out at simulation study in software called Tecnomatix Process Simulate. On the end of thesis is technical-economics evaluation

The master thesis deals with design of a robotic workcell for the operating of CNC lathe. The material input is realized by bin picking technology. The first part is an overview of related industries. Three variants of the workcell layout were created in the second part and the most suitable variant was selected. Selected variant is further elaborated, including 3D models of the workplace parts and drawings. The functionality of the designed workcell is checked by Siemens Process Simulate software simulation. The technical and economical evaluation is performed at the final part of the thesis.

Exploring surfaces is an essential ability for humans, allowing them to interact with a large variety of objects within their environment. This ability to explore surfaces is also of a major interest in the development of a new generation of humanoid robots, which requires the development of more efficient artificial tactile sensing techniques. The details perceived by statically touching different surfaces of objects not only improve robotic hand performance in force-controlled grasping tasks but also enables the feeling of vibrations on touched surfaces. This thesis presents an extensive experimental study of object surface exploration using biologically-Inspired tactile-enabled robotic fingers. A new multi-modal tactile sensor, embedded in both versions of the robotic fingertips (similar to the human distal phalanx) is capable of measuring the heart rate with a mean absolute error of 1.47 bpm through static explorations of the human skin. A two-phalanx articulated robotic finger with a new miniaturized tactile sensor embedded into the fingertip was developed in order to detect and classify surface textures. This classification is performed by the dynamic exploration of touched object surfaces. Two types of movements were studied: one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) movements. The machine learning techniques - Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), Random Forest, Extra Trees, and k-Nearest Neighbors (kNN) - were tested in order to find the most efficient one for the classification of the recovered textured surfaces. A 95% precision was achieved when using the Extra Trees technique for the classification of the 1D recovered texture patterns. Experimental results confirmed that the 2D textured surface exploration using a hemispheric tactile-enabled finger was superior to the 1D exploration. Three exploratory velocities were used for the 2D exploration: 30 mm/s, 35 mm/s, and 40 mm/s. The best classification accuracy of the 2D recovered texture patterns was 99.1% and 99.3%, using the SVM classifier, for the two lower exploratory velocities (30 mm/s and 35mm/s), respectively. For the 40 mm/s velocity, the Extra Trees classifier provided a classification accuracy of 99.4%. The results of the experimental research presented in this thesis could be suitable candidates for future development.

Det är allt vanligare att organisationer och dess processer genomgår en digital transformation föratt uppnå konkurrensfördelar. Organisationer letar ofta efter effektivare sätt att utföra processer.För att effektivisera processer kan digitala verktyg som Robotic Process Automation (RPA)användas. RPA har under de senaste fem åren blivit populärt bland organisationer då RPA oftastger en snabb return on investment (ROI). Vid ett strukturerat införande av RPA i organisationerkrävs ett förändringsarbete då det kan uppstå utmaningar som behöver hanteras. Befintliglitteratur inom RPA-området beskriver olika typer av metoder och utmaningar vid införande avRPA, men lite är känt om hur utmaningar och förändringar påverkar RPA-införandet och när deförekommer. Studiens syfte är därför att identifiera vilka utmaningar som uppkommit vidinförandet och när de förekommer. Studiens frågeställning lyder: Vilka utmaningar iförändringsarbetet finns det vid införande av RPA? Studien visar att utmaningar som uppkommer bör hanteras i tid för att inte påverka senareaktiviteter i RPA-införandet. Studiens slutsats är att det finns många olika typer av utmaningarsom en organisation ställs inför i förändringsarbetet när de för in RPA. Studiens resultat påidentifierade utmaningar är motstånd i organisationen, förändringsledning,processbeskrivningar, utveckling av RPA och övervakning av RPA. Det bidrag som studien tillförtill forskningsområdet är när utmaningar vid ett RPA-införande kan förekomma och hur derelaterar till varandra under RPA-införandet. / It’s common that organizations and their processes goes through a digital transformation toachieve competitive advantages. Organizations are often looking for more efficient ways ofexecuting their processes. To achieve efficiency in organizations, digital tools like RoboticProcess Automation (RPA) could be used. During the past five years RPA has become popularamong organizations due to a fast return on investments (ROI). When in a structured wayimplementing RPA in organizations, change management should be applied to handle potentialchallenges. Existing literature within the RPA field explains different types of models andholistic challenges when transitioning to RPA, however, little is known about how these changesare affecting the RPA-implementation and when they occur. Consequently, the purpose of thisstudy is to identify what challenges organizations have met during the implementation and whenthe challenges occurred. The question of the study is: What challenges in the change process isthere when implementing RPA? The study shows the importance of managing the challenges that arise initially to prevent futureissues in the RPA-project. The conclusion is that there are many different types of challenges thatan organization will encounter in change management when implementing RPA. The result of thestudy identified following challenges, organizational resistance, change management, processdescription, development of RPA and monitoring of RPA. The contribution of the study to theresearch area is when challenges during a RPA-implementation can occur and how challengesrelate to each other during the RPA-implementation.

Datum:     2022-06-01         Nivå:                  C-uppsats, 15 hp Institution:        Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Högskola Författare:        Shamoon, Jack         Selman Selim, Sam      Haddad, Jameel                                       00-07-21                      00-09-16                     00-01-30                    Titel:  Digitaliseringens påverkan på redovisningskonsulter. En kvalitativ undersökning om vilka hot och möjligheter digitala verktyg har på redovisningskonsulter. Handledare: Ulla Pettersson Nyckelord: “Robotic Process Automation”, ”RPA”, ”Automation”, “Digitalisering”, “Redovisning”, “Redovisningskonsult”, “AI”, “Molnbaserade tjänster”, “Digitala verktyg”. Forskningsfrågor: - Hur påverkar digitala verktygen redovisningskonsultens roll och arbetsuppgifter?  - Vilka hot och möjligheter har digitala verktyg medfört för redovisningskonsulterna? Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att redogöra för hur digitala verktyg påverkar redovisningskonsultens roll och arbetsuppgifter samt vilka hot och möjligheter digitala verktyg har medfört för redovisningskonsulterna. Metod: Metoden som valdes för att kunna undersöka forskningsfrågor och samla in empiri för denna studien är den kvalitativa metoden. Semistrukturerad intervju tillämpas i denna studie för det empiriska materialet utifrån fem respondenter. Slutsats: Studien har kommit fram till att digitala verktyg har medfört förändring på redovisningskonsulternas arbetsuppgifter, på grund av digitala verktygens utveckling samt att redovisningskonsulten yrkesroll är på väg mot en ny inriktning. Studien visar att digitala verktyg har skapat mer möjligheter än hot för redovisningskonsulter. / Date: 2022-06-01 Level: C-essay, 15 hp Institution: Academy of Economics, Society and Technology, Mälardalen University Authors:   Jack Shamoon             Sam Selim           Jameel Haddad                              00-07-21                     00-09-16                00-01-30                 Titel: The impact of  digitalization on accounting consultants. A qualitative study of the threats and opportunities digital tools have on accounting consultants Tutor:    Ulla Pettersson Keywords: “Robotic Process Automation”, ”RPA”, ”Automation”, ”Digitalization”, ”Accounting”, “Accounting consultant”, “AI”,”Cloud-based services”, “Digital tools”.  Research Questions: - How do digital tools affect the role and tasks of the accounting consultant? - Which threats and opportunities have digital tools contributed to the accounting consultants? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to account for how digital tools affect the accounting consultant's role and tasks, and what threats and opportunities digital tools have contributed to the accounting consultants. Method: The method chosen to examine the research questions and gather empirical data for this study is the qualitative method. Semi structured interviews are applied in this study for the empirical material by interviewing five respondents. Conclusion: The study has concluded that digital tools have contributed to a change in the accounting consultants' tasks due to the development of digital tools and that the accounting consultant's role is moving towards a new direction. The study shows that digital tools have created more opportunities than threats for accounting consultants.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) är en bred variation av tillvägagångssätt och tekniska lösningar som arbetar som ett stöd för att automatisera repetitiva arbetsuppgifter. År 2017 fastslogs en ny lagstiftning i Sverige som möjliggjorde för den offentliga sektorn att automatisera beslutstöd. Detta ledde i sin tur att allt fler svenska kommuner började implementera RPA. Av Sveriges totalt 290 kommuner klassas 259 stycken som mindre kommuner. För dessa mindre kommuner är det viktigt att balansera mellan att ha tillräckligt mycket bemanning för att både klara av ekonomin samt arbetsuppgifterna. Dessutom har flera kommuner i Sverige inte råd att anställa ny personal på grund av den rådande pandemin. Flertalet av dessa mindre kommuner har ännu ej påbörjat sitt arbete med RPA. Studien undersöker sex mindre svenska kommuner som har implementerat RPA med syfte för att ta reda på de effekter och förändringar som uppstått efter implementationen. Detta har gått till genom semistrukturerade intervjuer, för att få reda på hur kommunens implementering gått till, vilka processer och inom vilka områden kommunen har valt att automatisera samt vad kommunen har sett för effekter av detta. Tematisk analys användes sedan för att hitta mönster samt teman i intervjuerna. Resultatet visade på lyckade implementeringar där kommunerna har kommit olika långt i sitt arbete och nått olika nivåer av framgång men där samtliga genom RPA har frigjort tid för sin amedarbetare. De medverkande kommunerna i studien har ett flertal nya processer att automatisera i planeringsstadiet för det kommande året. Slutsatsen av denna studie visar på att effekterna av RPA ger goda resultat genom att frigöra tid och effektivisera arbetet för de mindre kommuner som har valt att lägga ner resurser på det. I brist på andra sätt att lösa sina nuvarande problem, är RPA i dagsläget en metod för att balansera ekonomi och de växande utmaningarna för en mindre kommun. / Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a wide variety of approaches and technical solutions that work as a support to automate repetitive tasks. In 2017, a new legislation was enacted in Sweden that made it possible for the public sector to automate decision support. This in turn led to more and more Swedish municipalities starting to implement RPA. Of Sweden's total 290 municipalities, 259 of them are classified as smaller municipalities. For these smaller municipalities, it is important to balance between having enough staff to manage both the finances and the tasks. In addition, several municipalities in Sweden cannot afford to hire new staff due to the current pandemic. Most of these smaller municipalities have not yet begun theirwork with RPA. The study examines six smaller Swedish municipalities that have implemented RPA with theaim of finding out the effects and changes that have arisen after their implementation. This has been done through semi-structured interviews to find out how their implementation went, what processes and in which areas they have chosen to automate and what they have seen for effects of this. Thematic analysis was then used to find patterns and themes in the interviews to present a common overall result with rich descriptions. This result showed successful implementations where the municipalities have come far different in their work and reached different levels of success, but where all through RPA have freed up time for their employees. These six municipalities also have a few processes to automate in the planning stage for the coming year.T he conclusion of this study shows that RPA gives good results for the smaller municipalities that have chosen to invest resources in it. In the absence of other ways to solve the current problems, RPA is a good method for balancing finance and the growing challenges for a smallermunicipality.