Pre-General Availability: 2024-09-02

About Robot Connections and Robot Connection Types

A robot connects to an application using a robot connection. You specify the parameters that you define in a robot connection using a robot connection type.

Familiar with Connections for Integrations?

Are you already familiar with connections for integrations? Connections for robots are similar. An integration connection and a robot connection both connect to an application. However, they have some key differences, which the following table explains.

Area	Integration connections	Robot connections
What the connection is based on	An integration connection is based on an adapter. An adapter is specific to an application or technology and includes information about the connection type and security protocols.	A robot connection is based on a robot connection type. You can use the predefined robot connection types, or create your own. A robot connection type defines how to connect to an application, such as by specifying a URL and user credentials.
How the connection connects to an application	An integration connection uses Java code to call an API. For example, the integration connection might perform an invoke activity for the application that it's connecting to.	A robot connection contains the information that a robot needs to open an application.
How to test a connection	After creating a connection, you can test it to ensure that you configured it correctly.	You test a robot connection as part of testing a robot.

Keep reading to learn more.

Robot Connection Types Are Similar to Templates

Unlike an integration, a robot doesn't need information about an application's security protocols or its APIs. A robot typically needs only a little information about the application or web page that it's connecting to, such as a URL and credentials. You list the fields that a robot needs to connect to an application in a robot connection type.

A robot connection type doesn't list the values of the fields, and it's not application specific. Therefore, you can base robot connections to different applications on the same robot connection type. For example, any robot connection that requires only a user name, password, and URL to access an application can use one of the predefined robot connection types.

To save you some time, Oracle provides the most commonly used robot connection types. See Predefined Robot Connection Types. If an application requires parameters that aren't included in the predefined robot connection types, you can create a new robot connection type.

Robot Connections Are Based on Robot Connection Types

You specify the parameters that a robot needs in a robot connection type, and you specify values for the parameters in a robot connection. For example, a user name is a parameter; [e-mail] is an example of a value of this parameter.

You base every robot connection on a robot connection type.

Separation Provides Benefits

A robot connection is separate from a robot, and this separation offers several benefits. For example:

• Robot connections protect secret information.

  You store secret information, such as credentials, in a robot connection. Robot connections are stored with an extra measure of security, and their information doesn't appear in the activity stream.

• Reusing robot connections makes updates faster.

  When your organization rotates passwords, you can update a password in one place, and all robots that use the connection start using the new password. Reusing connections makes for faster, easier, and less risky updates.

• Multiple robots can use the same robot connection, so you can build robots more quickly.

• You can update a robot connection of an active robot, without having to deactivate it first.

  Therefore, you can quickly update a robot after promoting it to a different environment.