Automation

Automation uses machines or software to perform tasks with reduced human intervention. It ranges from simple, fixed sequences to systems that respond to changing conditions.

Control theory: The study of how systems are regulated through feedback and control actions. Feedback control lets automated systems correct deviations from desired states.
Industrial automation: The use of control systems and machinery to automate industrial production and processes. Factories use automation to coordinate equipment and maintain repeatable production.
Mechanization: The use of machinery to perform physical work previously done by people or animals. Mechanization replaces muscular effort, while automation can also govern decisions and sequences.
Automation and employment: The effects of task-automating technologies on jobs, wages, and employment patterns. Automating tasks changes which kinds of work people perform and which skills are valued.
Water clock: A timekeeping device that measures time through the controlled flow of water. Ancient water clocks show how devices could regulate recurring operations without continuous attention.
Feedback: Information about a system’s output that is returned to influence its later behavior. Automated systems use feedback to adjust actions as conditions change.
Business process automation: The use of software to execute recurring business tasks and workflows. Office workflows can be automated without replacing their human decision-makers.
Human-computer interaction: The study and design of interactions between people and computer systems. Automation reduces direct interaction, whereas interface design shapes it.
Technological unemployment: Job loss caused by technological changes that replace human labor. It describes one possible employment consequence when automation displaces workers.
Centrifugal governor: A feedback device that regulates a machine’s speed using rotating masses. Its use on steam engines established a landmark form of automatic mechanical control.

Linked from 50 pages