Editing Automation (section)

{{Short description|Use of various control systems for operating equipment}}
{{About||a hierarchical presentation of automation topics|Outline of automation|other uses|Automation (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Automate}}
{{Distinguish|Automaton}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
[[File:Control room pt tupper.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Minimum human intervention is required to control many large facilities, such as this electrical generating station.]]
{{Automation}}

'''Automation''' describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines.<ref>{{cite book
|title= Fundamentals of Modern Manufacturing: Materials, Processes, and Systems|last=Groover|first= Mikell|year=2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Agrawal |first1=Ajay |last2=Gans |first2=Joshua S. |last3=Goldfarb |first3=Avi |title=Do we want less automation? |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=2023 |volume=381 |issue=6654 |pages=155–158 |doi=10.1126/science.adh9429|pmid=37440634 |bibcode=2023Sci...381..155A |doi-access= }}</ref> Automation has been achieved by various means including [[Mechanical system|mechanical]], [[hydraulic]], [[pneumatic]], [[electrical]], [[electronic devices]], and [[computer]]s, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern [[Factory|factories]], [[airplane]]s, and ships typically use combinations of all of these techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, reducing waste, savings in [[electricity]] costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy, and precision.

Automation includes the use of various equipment and [[control system]]s such as [[machinery]], processes in [[factories]], [[boiler]]s,<ref>Lyshevski, S.E. Electromechanical Systems and Devices 1st Edition. CRC Press, 2008. {{isbn|1420069721}}.</ref> and heat-treating [[oven]]s, switching on [[telephone network]]s, [[steering]], [[Stabilizer (ship)|stabilization of ships]], [[aircraft]] and other applications and [[vehicle]]s with reduced human intervention.<ref>Lamb, Frank. Industrial Automation: Hands On (English Edition). NC, McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. {{isbn|978-0-071-81645-8}}.</ref> Examples range from a household [[thermostat]] controlling a boiler to a large industrial control system with tens of thousands of input measurements and output control signals. Automation has also found a home in the banking industry. It can range from simple on-off control to multi-variable high-level algorithms in terms of control complexity.

In the simplest type of an automatic [[control loop]], a controller compares a measured value of a process with a desired set value and processes the resulting error signal to change some input to the process, in such a way that the process stays at its set point despite disturbances. This closed-loop control is an application of [[negative feedback]] to a system. The mathematical basis of [[control theory]] was begun in the 18th century and advanced rapidly in the 20th. The term ''automation'', inspired by the earlier word ''automatic'' (coming from ''[[automaton]]''), was not widely used before 1947, when [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] established an automation department.<ref name="Rifkin 1995">{{cite book |last=Rifkin |first=Jeremy |url=https://archive.org/details/endofwork00jere |title=The End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era |publisher=Putnam Publishing Group |year=1995 |isbn=978-0-87477-779-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/endofwork00jere/page/66 66], 75 |url-access=registration}}</ref> It was during this time that the industry was rapidly adopting [[feedback controller]]s, Technological advancements introduced in the 1930s revolutionized various industries significantly.{{sfn|Bennett|1993}}

The [[World Bank]]'s [[World Development Report]] of 2019 shows evidence that the new industries and jobs in the technology sector outweigh the economic effects of workers being displaced by automation.<ref>{{cite report|url=http://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/wdr2019|title=The Changing Nature of Work|publisher = The World Bank|date = 2019}}</ref> [[Technological unemployment|Job losses]] and [[downward mobility]] blamed on automation have been cited as one of many factors in the resurgence of [[New nationalism (21st century)|nationalist]], [[protectionist]] and [[populist]] politics in the US, UK and France, among other countries since the 2010s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/348219/how-robots-caused-brexit-and-the-rise-of-donald-trump|title=How Robots Caused Brexit and the Rise of Donald Trump|last=Dashevsky|first=Evan|date=8 November 2017|website=PC Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171108041038/https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/348219/how-robots-caused-brexit-and-the-rise-of-donald-trump|archive-date=8 November 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/robots-trump-automation-swing-us-election/reputation-matters/article/1440399|title=Robots for Trump: Did automation swing the US election?|last=Torrance|first=Jack|date=25 July 2017|work=Management Today}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/29/trump-brexit-society-complex-people-populists|title=The lesson of Trump and Brexit: a society too complex for its people risks everything {{!}} John Harris|last=Harris|first=John|date=29 December 2016|work=The Guardian|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2018/04/18/will-robots-and-ai-take-your-job-the-economic-and-political-consequences-of-automation/|title=Will robots and AI take your job? The economic and political consequences of automation|author=Darrell West|date=18 April 2018|publisher=Brookings Institution}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thelocal.fr/20161207/voters-in-eastern-frances-rust-belt-far-right-national-front-le-pen-trump-brexit|title='People are lost': Voters in France's 'Trumplands' look to far right|author=Clare Byrne|date=7 December 2016|publisher=The Local.fr}}</ref>