Machine learning-based intelligent result compilation RPA bot for higher education institutions

Abstract

Educators are essential for societal progress, and well-educated students are pivotal for a promising future. Higher education faces challenges such as budget constraints, limited time, and a shortage of trained personnel, leading to faculty stress. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and block chain provide solutions, with robotic process automation (RPA) bots a notable advanced AI subfield-automating repetitive tasks, thereby freeing teachers to focus on more essential responsibilities. RPA bots automate various educational processes, including examinations, admissions, marks updating, student record management, result compilation, human resources, resume screening, and administration. This research examines robotic automation in higher education institutions (HEIs), selecting and prioritizing RPA tasks through a survey involving subject matter experts (SMEs) from different HEIs, including professors and RPA experts. The research aims to develop a “virtual software bot” for automating “result compilation” post-examination. Using tools like XPATH, Whisper, and the web-based automation program Selenium web in Python, the bot automates this process. The ML library “Whisper” addresses the reCAPTCHA problem. The automated bot generates comma separated values (CSV) files in specific formats, completing the task 58 times faster than humans and saving 43 man-hours by compiling results for 653 students in 45 minutes.