DiLogics: Creating Web Automation Programs With Diverse Logics

TL;DR

DiLogics is a programming-by-demonstration system that leverages NLP to help users create web automation programs capable of handling diverse input conditions and specifications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach combining semantic segmentation and demonstration recording to generalize web automation tasks for varied requirements.

Findings

Non-experts can effectively use DiLogics for diverse web automation tasks.

DiLogics enables creation of flexible automation programs with minimal user effort.

The system outperforms existing tools in handling varied input conditions.

Abstract

Knowledge workers frequently encounter repetitive web data entry tasks, like updating records or placing orders. Web automation increases productivity, but translating tasks to web actions accurately and extending to new specifications is challenging. Existing tools can automate tasks that perform the same logical trace of UI actions (e.g., input text in each field in order), but do not support tasks requiring different executions based on varied input conditions. We present DiLogics, a programming-by-demonstration system that utilizes NLP to assist users in creating web automation programs that handle diverse specifications. DiLogics first semantically segments input data to structured task steps. By recording user demonstrations for each step, DiLogics generalizes the web macros to novel but semantically similar task requirements. Our evaluation showed that non-experts can effectively use DiLogics to create automation programs that fulfill diverse input instructions. DiLogics provides an efficient, intuitive, and expressive method for developing web automation programs satisfying diverse specifications.