Robotic process automation system with separate platform, bot and command class loaders

A robotic process automation system comprising:

• data storage for storing,
• a plurality of bots, each bot comprising a set of task processing instructions, each bot operable to interact at a user level with one or more designated user level application programs;
• and
• a plurality of work items, each work item stored for subsequent processing by executing at least a first corresponding bot;
• a server processor operatively coupled to the data storage and configured to execute instructions that when executed cause the server processor to respond to a request to perform an automation task to process a work item from the plurality of work items, by:
• initiating a virtual machine on a second device wherein the virtual machine permits execution of instructions in a manner that is independent of an operating system executing on the second device;
• initiating on the second device, a first user session, employing credentials of a first user, for managing execution of the automation task;
• permitting retrieval of a first bot that corresponds to the work item;
• loading into the virtual machine, with a platform class loader, a logging module and a security module wherein the logging module logs events that occur during operation of the platform class loader and wherein the security module provides security functions during operation of the platform class loader;
• loading with a first class loader the first bot;
• loading each instruction in the first bot with a separate class loader;
• and
• causing execution, under control of the first user session, on the second device, the first bot.

A tangible storage medium, having stored thereupon one or more program modules comprising computer-executable instructions for execution on a computer system, the computer-executable instructions causing the computer system to implement a robotic process automation system that employs data storage for storing a plurality of bots, each bot comprising a set of task processing instructions, each bot operable to interact at a user level with one or more designated user level application programs the data storage further storing a plurality of work items, each work item stored for subsequent processing by executing at least a first corresponding bot, wherein the robotic process automation system employs a server processor operatively coupled to the data storage and configured to execute instructions that when executed cause the server processor to respond to a request to perform an automation task to process a work item from the plurality of work items, by:

• initiating a virtual machine on a second device wherein the virtual machine permits execution of instructions in a manner that is independent of an operating system executing on the second device;
• initiating on the second device, a first user session, employing credentials of a first user, for managing execution of the automation task;
• permitting retrieval of a first bot that corresponds to the work item;
• loading into the virtual machine, with a platform class loader, a logging module and a security module wherein the logging module logs events that occur during operation of the platform class loader and wherein the security module provides security functions during operation of the platform class loader;
• loading with a first class loader the first bot;
• loading each instruction in the first bot with a separate class loader;
• and
• causing execution, under control of the first user session, on the second device, the first bot.