Get started with Bot Agent

The Bot Agent is a lightweight application that enables you to run bots on your local device by connecting it to Control Room. After installing the Bot Agent on a device, a registered user with role-based access privileges can create, manage, and deploy bots on that device.

Bot Agent configuration

  1. A Control Room administrator creates and shares the user credentials. You can then log into Control Room using these sign in credentials.
  2. After signing into Control Room, you install the Bot Agent and register your local device. This device is then mapped to your username in Control Room.
  3. The Bot Agent is registered as a Windows service (Automation Anywhere Bot Agent Service) on your device and the Automation Anywhere extension is added to your browser.
  4. The device communicates with the Control Room using WebSocket and stays connected.

Concept diagram showing Bot agent users connectivity with Control Room

Privilege mapping

A user is granted privileges governed by role-based access and assigned a device license by a Control Room administrator. User is assigned a Bot Creator or Bot Runner license.

Bot Creator
Users with this license can log into the Control Room from a browser to perform the following actions:
  • Create, edit, or delete bots.
  • Manage bots for using in Bot Insight, IQ Bot, and Bot Store.
Bot Runner
Users with this license can deploy bots from the Control Room. Additionally, a user can be assigned one of the following Bot Runner licenses:
  • Unattended Bot Runner license

    Users with this license are can allow other Control Room users with the required role to run and schedule automations in Control Room. These users are also referred as Run as users.

  • Attended Bot Runner license

    Users with this license are allowed to run attended automations on their devices from the Control Room.

Note: If you encounter black screen when running bots in unattended mode, see the following article for troubleshooting steps.

Black screenshot while running the bot in unattended mode (A-People login required)

Note: Automation 360 is designed to ensure that the Bot Agent application automatically connects and registers, or reconnects with an On-Premises or Cloud Control Room. The devices used to install Bot Agent are part of the customer’s infrastructure.

Such devices might install one or more applications as required for a business process through an automation. The monitoring and disaster recovery process for such devices must be designed and implemented based on the customer's requirements.

For installing the Bot Agent across multiple devices such as On-Premises machines, virtual machines (VMs), and non-persistent virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), the customer can use the silent installation capability of the Bot Agent. For more information, see Bulk installing Bot Agent.