MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. -- Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, hosted its first Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Roadshow for Airmen August 6-9.
During the four-day training, Airmen were given a crash course on automation technology. The purpose of the roadshow was to encourage Airmen to think critically about what improvements can be made in their everyday processes. Airmen becoming developers and using bot technology in their work centers gives an advantage over adversaries in the race to accelerate change.
RPA has already been incorporated into the Air Force’s daily operations by detecting computer threats, gathering information from files, replying to messages, launching firewalls, and minimizing human error.
“If it’s highly repetitive and boring, there’s a good chance we can teach a robot to do those things,” said Marcellus Curtis, Invoke RPA instructor. “I know Airmen have a lot on their plate and time can be used more efficiently.”
Curtis taught the course along with fellow RPA instructors Kamlen Joshi, Morgan Giles, Jaylen Harris, and Tech Sgt. Alexander Fisher, Department of the Air Force Bot Operations Team (DAFBOT) and RPA section chief. The goal in automating repetitive manual tasks is to cut out and upgrade administrative tasks, giving Airmen time to improve mission readiness and career field expertise.
Senior Airman Addison Chapman, 5th Force Support Squadron sports program assistant, attended the RPA course.
“I have goals of creating my own program to cut back on some paperwork,” Chapman said. “We’re using very old systems and we’re trying to get everything digitized so hopefully this reduces paperwork and time spent.”
Day one was an introduction to RPA, UiPath software, and the history of the DAFBOT. Day two and three focused on teaching Airmen how to build their own bot using the UiPath software, writing code, and finding resources to build their own automations. Day four was for Airmen to show off their bots and receive peer reviews.
Fisher has taught Airmen at bases around the world about RPA and the benefits it could have in their work centers.
“We’re bringing our software development experience and teaching each career field so they can automate their Air Force specialty code with their own automation software,” Fisher stated. “They know their job way better than we do, so if they learn two percent of ours, they can automate most of their job.”
The Airmen who attended the course learned how simple work processes can go from taking hours to minutes with the help of robotic automation processes. The bots the RPA instructors helped the Airmen create were intended to be incorporated into the Airmen’s everyday workflow. Thanks to the RPA course, the Air Force has repurposed over 2 million hours, and trained 2,700 Airmen.