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Automation is the technology by which a

process or procedure is performed with
minimal human assistance.[1] Automation
[2] or automatic control is the use of
various control systems for operating
equipment such as machinery, processes
in factories, boilers and heat treating
ovens, switching on telephone networks,
steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft
and other applications and vehicles with
minimal or reduced human intervention.
Some processes have been completely

Automation covers applications ranging

from a household thermostat controlling a
boiler, to a large industrial control system
with tens of thousands of input
measurements and output control signals.
In control complexity it can range from
simple on-off control to multi-variable high
level algorithms.

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.

Automation has been achieved by various

means including mechanical, hydraulic,
pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices
and computers, usually in combination.
Complicated systems, such as modern
factories, airplanes and ships typically use
all these combined techniques. The
beneﬁt of automation include labor
savings, savings in electricity costs,
savings in material costs, and
improvements to quality, accuracy and

The World Bank's World Development

Report 2019 shows evidence that the new
industries and jobs in the technological
sector outweigh the economic effects of
workers being displaced by automation.[3]

The term automation, inspired by the

earlier word automatic (coming from
automaton), was not widely used before
1947, when Ford established an
automation department.[2] It was during
this time that industry was rapidly
adopting feedback controllers, which were
introduced in the 1930s.[4]

Minimum human intervention is required to control

many large facilities such as this electrical generating

Open-loop and closed-loop

(feedback) control
Fundamentally, there are two types of
control loop; open loop control, and closed
loop feedback control.

In open loop control the control action

from the controller is independent of the
"process output" (or "controlled process
variable"). A good example of this is a
central heating boiler controlled only by a
timer, so that heat is applied for a constant
time, regardless of the temperature of the
building. (The control action is the
switching on/off of the boiler. The process
output is the building temperature).
In closed loop control, the control action
from the controller is dependent on the
process output. In the case of the boiler
analogy this would include a thermostat to
monitor the building temperature, and
thereby feed back a signal to ensure the
controller maintains the building at the
temperature set on the thermostat. A
closed loop controller therefore has a
feedback loop which ensures the
controller exerts a control action to give a
process output the same as the
"Reference input" or "set point". For this
reason, closed loop controllers are also
called feedback controllers.[5]
The deﬁnition of a closed loop control
system according to the British Standard
Institution is 'a control system possessing
monitoring feedback, the deviation signal
formed as a result of this feedback being
used to control the action of a ﬁnal control
element in such a way as to tend to reduce
the deviation to zero.' [6]

Likewise, a Feedback Control System is a

system which tends to maintain a
prescribed relationship of one system
variable to another by comparing
functions of these variables and using the
difference as a means of control.[6] The
advanced type of automation that
revolutionized manufacturing, aircraft,
communications and other industries, is
feedback control, which is usually
continuous and involves taking
measurements using a sensor and making
calculated adjustments to keep the
The theoretical basis of closed loop
automation is control theory.
A ﬂyball governor is an early example of a feedback
control system. An increase in speed would make the
counterweights move outward, sliding a linkage that

tended to close the valve supplying steam, and so

slowing the engine.
Control actions
Discrete control (on/off)

One of the simplest types of control is on-

off control. An example is the thermostat
used on household appliances which
either opens or closes an electrical
contact. (Thermostats were originally
developed as true feedback-control
mechanisms rather than the on-off
common household appliance

Sequence control, in which a programmed

sequence of discrete operations is
performed, often based on system logic
that involves system states. An elevator
control system is an example of sequence

PID controller

A block diagram of a PID controller in a feedback loop,

is the measured process value.

A proportional–integral–derivative
controller (PID controller) is a control loop
feedback mechanism (controller) widely
used in industrial control systems.

In a PID loop, the controller continuously

calculates an error value   as the
difference between a desired setpoint and
a measured process variable and applies a
correction based on proportional, integral,
and derivative terms, respectively
(sometimes denoted P, I, and D) which
give their name to the controller type.

The theoretical understanding and

application dates from the 1920s, and they
are implemented in nearly all analogue
control systems; originally in mechanical
controllers, and then using discrete
electronics and latterly in industrial
process computers.

Sequential control and logical

sequence or system state

Sequential control may be either to a ﬁxed

sequence or to a logical one that will
perform different actions depending on
various system states. An example of an
adjustable but otherwise ﬁxed sequence is
a timer on a lawn sprinkler.
State Abstraction

This state diagram shows how UML can be used for

designing a door system that can only be opened and

States refer to the various conditions that

can occur in a use or sequence scenario of
the system. An example is an elevator,
which uses logic based on the system
state to perform certain actions in
response to its state and operator input.
For example, if the operator presses the
ﬂoor n button, the system will respond
depending on whether the elevator is
stopped or moving, going up or down, or if
the door is open or closed, and other

An early development of sequential control

was relay logic, by which electrical relays
engage electrical contacts which either
start or interrupt power to a device. Relays
were ﬁrst used in telegraph networks
before being developed for controlling
other devices, such as when starting and
stopping industrial-sized electric motors or
opening and closing solenoid valves.
Using relays for control purposes allowed
event-driven control, where actions could
be triggered out of sequence, in response
to external events. These were more
ﬂexible in their response than the rigid
single-sequence cam timers. More
complicated examples involved
maintaining safe sequences for devices
such as swing bridge controls, where a
lock bolt needed to be disengaged before
the bridge could be moved, and the lock
bolt could not be released until the safety
gates had already been closed.
The total number of relays, cam timers
and drum sequencers can number into the
hundreds or even thousands in some
factories. Early programming techniques
and languages were needed to make such
systems manageable, one of the ﬁrst
being ladder logic, where diagrams of the
interconnected relays resembled the rungs
of a ladder. Special computers called
programmable logic controllers were later
designed to replace these collections of
hardware with a single, more easily re-
programmed unit.

In a typical hard wired motor start and

stop circuit (called a control circuit) a
motor is started by pushing a "Start" or
"Run" button that activates a pair of
electrical relays. The "lock-in" relay locks in
contacts that keep the control circuit
energized when the push button is
released. (The start button is a normally
open contact and the stop button is
normally closed contact.) Another relay
energizes a switch that powers the device
that throws the motor starter switch (three
sets of contacts for three phase industrial
power) in the main power circuit. Large
motors use high voltage and experience
high in-rush current, making speed
important in making and breaking contact.
This can be dangerous for personnel and
property with manual switches. The "lock
in" contacts in the start circuit and the
main power contacts for the motor are
held engaged by their respective
electromagnets until a "stop" or "off"
button is pressed, which de-energizes the
lock in relay.[10]

Commonly interlocks are added to a

control circuit. Suppose that the motor in
the example is powering machinery that
has a critical need for lubrication. In this
case an interlock could be added to insure
that the oil pump is running before the
motor starts. Timers, limit switches and
electric eyes are other common elements
in control circuits.

Solenoid valves are widely used on

compressed air or hydraulic ﬂuid for
powering actuators on mechanical
components. While motors are used to
supply continuous rotary motion,
actuators are typically a better choice for
intermittently creating a limited range of
movement for a mechanical component,
such as moving various mechanical arms,
opening or closing valves, raising heavy
press rolls, applying pressure to presses.

Computer control
Computers can perform both sequential
control and feedback control, and typically
a single computer will do both in an
industrial application. Programmable logic
controllers (PLCs) are a type of special
purpose microprocessor that replaced
many hardware components such as
timers and drum sequencers used in relay
logic type systems. General purpose
process control computers have
increasingly replaced stand alone
controllers, with a single computer able to
perform the operations of hundreds of
controllers. Process control computers
can process data from a network of PLCs,
instruments and controllers in order to
implement typical (such as PID) control of
many individual variables or, in some
cases, to implement complex control
algorithms using multiple inputs and
mathematical manipulations. They can
also analyze data and create real time
graphical displays for operators and run
reports for operators, engineers and

Control of an automated teller machine

(ATM) is an example of an interactive
process in which a computer will perform
a logic derived response to a user
selection based on information retrieved
from a networked database. The ATM
process has similarities with other online
transaction processes. The different
logical responses are called scenarios.
Such processes are typically designed
with the aid of use cases and ﬂowcharts,
which guide the writing of the software
code.The earliest feedback control
mechanism was the water clock invented
by Greek engineer Ctesibius (285–222 BC)

Early history

Ctesibius's clepsydra (3rd century BC).

It was a preoccupation of the Greeks and

Arabs (in the period between about 300 BC
and about 1200 AD) to keep accurate track
of time. In Ptolemaic Egypt, about 270 BC,
Ctesibius described a ﬂoat regulator for a
water clock, a device not unlike the ball
and cock in a modern ﬂush toilet. This was
the earliest feedback controlled
mechanism.[11] The appearance of the
mechanical clock in the 14th century
made the water clock and its feedback
control system obsolete.

The Persian Banū Mūsā brothers, in their

Book of Ingenious Devices (850 AD),
described a number of automatic
controls.[12] Two-step level controls for
ﬂuids, a form of discontinuous variable
structure controls, was developed by the
Banu Musa brothers.[13] They also
described a feedback controller.[14][15]

Industrial Revolution in
Western Europe
The introduction of prime movers, or self-
driven machines advanced grain mills,
furnaces, boilers, and the steam engine
created a new requirement for automatic
control systems including temperature
regulators (invented in 1624 (see
Cornelius Drebbel)), pressure regulators
(1681), ﬂoat regulators (1700) and speed
control devices. Another control
mechanism was used to tent the sails of
windmills. It was patented by Edmund Lee
in 1745.[16] Also in 1745, Jacques de
Vaucanson invented the ﬁrst automated
loom. The design of feedback control
systems up through the Industrial
Revolution was by trial-and-error, together
with a great deal of engineering intuition.
Thus, it was more of an art than a science.
In the mid-19th century mathematics was
ﬁrst used to analyze the stability of
feedback control systems. Since
mathematics is the formal language of
automatic control theory, we could call the
period before this time the prehistory of
control theory.

In 1771 Richard Arkwright invented the

ﬁrst fully automated spinning mill driven
by water power, known at the time as the
water frame.[17] An automatic ﬂour mill
was developed by Oliver Evans in 1785,
making it the ﬁrst completely automated
industrial process.[18][19]

Steam engines are a technology created during the

1700s used to promote automation.

The centrifugal governor, which was

invented by Christian Huygens in the
seventeenth century, was used to adjust
the gap between millstones.[20][21][22]
Another centrifugal governor was used by
a Mr. Bunce of England in 1784 as part of
a model steam crane.[23][24] The
centrifugal governor was adopted by
James Watt for use on a steam engine in
1788 after Watt’s partner Boulton saw one
at a ﬂour mill Boulton & Watt were

The governor could not actually hold a set

speed; the engine would assume a new
constant speed in response to load
changes. The governor was able to handle
smaller variations such as those caused
by ﬂuctuating heat load to the boiler. Also,
there was a tendency for oscillation
whenever there was a speed change. As a
consequence, engines equipped with this
governor were not suitable for operations
requiring constant speed, such as cotton

Several improvements to the governor,

plus improvements to valve cut-off timing
on the steam engine, made the engine
suitable for most industrial uses before
the end of the 19th century. Advances in
the steam engine stayed well ahead of
science, both thermodynamics and control

The governor received relatively little

scientiﬁc attention until James Clerk
Maxwell published a paper that
established the beginning of a theoretical
basis for understanding control theory.
Development of the electronic ampliﬁer
during the 1920s, which was important for
long distance telephony, required a higher
signal to noise ratio, which was solved by
negative feedback noise cancellation. This
and other telephony applications
contributed to control theory. In the 1940s
and 1950s, German mathematician
Irmgard Flugge-Lotz developed the theory
of discontinuous automatic controls,
which found military applications during
the Second World War to ﬁre control
systems and aircraft navigation
20th century

Relay logic was introduced with factory

electriﬁcation, which underwent rapid
adaption from 1900 though the 1920s.
Central electric power stations were also
undergoing rapid growth and operation of
new high pressure boilers, steam turbines
and electrical substations created a large
demand for instruments and controls.
Central control rooms became common in
the 1920s, but as late as the early 1930s,
most process control was on-off.
Operators typically monitored charts
drawn by recorders that plotted data from
instruments. To make corrections,
operators manually opened or closed
valves or turned switches on or off.
Control rooms also used color coded
lights to send signals to workers in the
plant to manually make certain

Controllers, which were able to make

calculated changes in response to
deviations from a set point rather than on-
off control, began being introduced the
1930s. Controllers allowed manufacturing
to continue showing productivity gains to
offset the declining inﬂuence of factory
Factory productivity was greatly increased
by electriﬁcation in the 1920s. U. S.
manufacturing productivity growth fell
41. Alexander Field notes that spending on
non-medical instruments increased
signiﬁcantly from 1929–33 and remained
strong thereafter.[26]

The First and Second World Wars saw

major advancements in the ﬁeld of mass
communication and signal processing.
Other key advances in automatic controls
include differential equations, stability
theory and system theory (1938),
frequency domain analysis (1940), ship
control (1950), and stochastic analysis

Starting in 1958, various systems based

on solid-state[27][28] digital logic modules
for hard-wired programmed logic
controllers (the predecessors of
programmable logic controllers (PLC))
emerged to replace electro-mechanical
relay logic in industrial control systems for
process control and automation, including
early Telefunken/AEG Logistat, Siemens
Simatic, Philips/Mullard/Valvo Norbit, BBC
Sigmatronic, ACEC Logacec, Akkord
Estacord, Krone Mibakron, Bistat, Datapac,
Norlog, SSR, or Procontic

In 1959 Texaco's Port Arthur reﬁnery

became the ﬁrst chemical plant to use
digital control.[34] Conversion of factories
to digital control began to spread rapidly in
the 1970s as the price of computer
hardware fell.

Signiﬁcant applications

The automatic telephone switchboard was

introduced in 1892 along with dial
system was automatic. Automatic
telephone switching originally used
vacuum tube ampliﬁers and electro-
mechanical switches, which consumed a
large amount of electricity. Call volume
eventually grew so fast that it was feared
the telephone system would consume all
electricity production, prompting Bell Labs
to begin research on the transistor.[36]

The logic performed by telephone

switching relays was the inspiration for the
digital computer. The ﬁrst commercially
successful glass bottle blowing machine
was an automatic model introduced in
1905.[37] The machine, operated by a two-
man crew working 12-hour shifts, could
produce 17,280 bottles in 24 hours,
compared to 2,880 bottles made by a crew
of six men and boys working in a shop for
a day. The cost of making bottles by
machine was 10 to 12 cents per gross
compared to $1.80 per gross by the
manual glassblowers and helpers.

Sectional electric drives were developed

using control theory. Sectional electric
drives are used on different sections of a
machine where a precise differential must
be maintained between the sections. In
steel rolling, the metal elongates as it
passes through pairs of rollers, which
must run at successively faster speeds. In
paper making the paper sheet shrinks as it
passes around steam heated drying
arranged in groups, which must run at
successively slower speeds. The ﬁrst
application of a sectional electric drive
was on a paper machine in 1919.[38] One
of the most important developments in the
steel industry during the 20th century was
continuous wide strip rolling, developed by
Armco in 1928.[39]

Automated pharmacology production

Before automation many chemicals were
made in batches. In 1930, with the
widespread use of instruments and the
emerging use of controllers, the founder of
Dow Chemical Co. was advocating
continuous production.[40]

Self-acting machine tools that displaced

hand dexterity so they could be operated
by boys and unskilled laborers were
developed by James Nasmyth in the
1840s.[41] Machine tools were automated
with Numerical control (NC) using
punched paper tape in the 1950s. This
soon evolved into computerized numerical
control (CNC).
Today extensive automation is practiced in
practically every type of manufacturing
and assembly process. Some of the larger
processes include electrical power
generation, oil reﬁning, chemicals, steel
mills, plastics, cement plants, fertilizer
plants, pulp and paper mills, automobile
and truck assembly, aircraft production,
glass manufacturing, natural gas
separation plants, food and beverage
processing, canning and bottling and
manufacture of various kinds of parts.
Robots are especially useful in hazardous
applications like automobile spray
painting. Robots are also used to
assemble electronic circuit boards.
Automotive welding is done with robots
and automatic welders are used in
applications like pipelines.

Space/computer age

With the advent of the space age in 1957,

controls design, particularly in the United
States, turned away from the frequency-
domain techniques of classical control
theory and backed into the differential
equation techniques of the late 19th
century, which were couched in the time
domain. During the 1940s and 1950s,
German mathematician Irmgard Flugge-
Lotz developed the theory of
discontinuous automatic control, which
became widely used in hysteresis control
systems such as navigation systems, ﬁre-
control systems, and electronics. Through
Flugge-Lotz and others, the modern era
saw time-domain design for nonlinear
systems (1961), navigation (1960), optimal
control and estimation theory (1962),
nonlinear control theory (1969), digital
control and ﬁltering theory (1974), and the
personal computer (1983).

Advantages and
Perhaps the most cited advantage of
automation in industry is that it is
associated with faster production and
cheaper labor costs. Another beneﬁt could
be that it replaces hard, physical, or
monotonous work.[42] Additionally, tasks
that take place in hazardous environments
or that are otherwise beyond human
capabilities can be done by machines, as
machines can operate even under extreme
temperatures or in atmospheres that are
radioactive or toxic. They can also be
maintained with simple quality checks.
However, at the time being, not all tasks
can be automated, and some tasks are
more expensive to automate than others.
Initial costs of installing the machinery in
factory settings are high, and failure to
maintain a system could result in the loss
of the product itself. Moreover, some
studies seem to indicate that industrial
automation could impose ill effects
beyond operational concerns, including
worker displacement due to systemic loss
of employment and compounded
environmental damage; however, these
ﬁndings are both convoluted and
controversial in nature, and could
potentially be circumvented.[43]

The main advantages of automation are:

Increased throughput or productivity.
Improved quality or increased
predictability of quality.
Improved robustness (consistency), of
processes or product.
Increased consistency of output.
Reduced direct human labor costs and
Installation in operations reduces cycle
Can complete tasks where a high degree
of accuracy is required.
Replaces human operators in tasks that
involve hard physical or monotonous
work (e.g., using one forklift with a
single driver instead of a team of
multiple workers to lift a heavy
Reduces some occupational injuries
(e.g., fewer strained backs from lifting
heavy objects)
Replaces humans in tasks done in
dangerous environments (i.e. ﬁre, space,
volcanoes, nuclear facilities, underwater,
Performs tasks that are beyond human
capabilities of size, weight, speed,
endurance, etc.
Reduces operation time and work
handling time signiﬁcantly.
Frees up workers to take on other roles.
Provides higher level jobs in the
development, deployment, maintenance
and running of the automated

The main disadvantages of automation


Possible security threats/vulnerability

due to increased relative susceptibility
for committing errors.
Unpredictable or excessive development
High initial cost.
Displaces workers due to job

Societal impact
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Increased automation can often cause

workers to feel anxious about losing their
jobs as technology renders their skills or
experience unnecessary. Early in the
Industrial Revolution, when inventions like
the steam engine were making some job
categories expendable, workers forcefully
resisted these changes. Luddites, for
instance, were English textile workers who
protested the introduction of weaving
machines by destroying them.[45] Similar
movements have sprung up periodically
ever since. For most of the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, the most inﬂuential of
these movements were led by organized
labor, which advocated for the retraining of
workers whose jobs were rendered
redundant by machines. More recently,
some residents of Chandler, Arizona have
slashed tires and pelted rocks at driver-
less cars, in protest over the cars'
perceived threat to human safety and job

Currently, the relative anxiety about

automation reﬂected in opinion polls
seems to correlate closely with the
strength of organized labor in that region
or nation. For example, while a recent
study by the Pew Research Center
indicated that 72% of Americans are
worried about increasing automation in
the workplace, 80% of Swedes see
automation and artiﬁcial intelligence as a
good thing, due to the country’s still-
powerful unions and a more robust
national safety net.[47]

Automation is already contributing

signiﬁcantly to unemployment, particularly
in nations where the government does not
proactively seek to diminish its impact. In
the United States, 47% of all current jobs
have the potential to be fully automated by
2033, according to the research of experts
Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne.
Furthermore, wages and educational
attainment appear to be strongly
negatively correlated with an occupation’s
risk of being automated.[48] Prospects are
particularly bleak for occupations that do
not presently require a university degree,
corridors like Silicon Valley, concern is
spreading about a future in which a sizable
percentage of adults have little chance of
sustaining gainful employment.[50] As the
example of Sweden suggests, however,
the transition to a more automated future
need not inspire panic, if there is suﬃcient
political will to promote the retraining of
workers whose positions are being
rendered obsolete.

Lights out manufacturing

Lights out manufacturing is a production
system with no human workers, to
eliminate labor costs.

Lights out manufacturing grew in

popularity in the U.S. when General Motors
in 1982 implemented humans "hands-off"
manufacturing in order to "replace risk-
averse bureaucracy with automation and
robots". However, the factory never
reached full "lights out" status.[51]

The expansion of lights out manufacturing


Reliability of equipment
Long term mechanic capabilities
Planned preventative maintenance
Commitment from the staff

Health and environment

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The costs of automation to the

environment are different depending on
the technology, product or engine
automated. There are automated engines
that consume more energy resources from
the Earth in comparison with previous
engines and vice versa. Hazardous
operations, such as oil reﬁning, the
manufacturing of industrial chemicals, and
all forms of metal working, were always
early contenders for automation.

The automation of vehicles could prove to

have a substantial impact on the
environment, although the nature of this
impact could be beneﬁcial or harmful
depending on several factors. Because
automated vehicles are much less likely to
get into accidents compared to human-
driven vehicles, some precautions built
into current models (such as anti-lock
brakes or laminated glass) would not be
required for self-driving versions.
Removing these safety features would
also signiﬁcantly reduce the weight of the
vehicle, thus increasing fuel economy and
reducing emissions per mile. Self-driving
vehicles are also more precise with regard
to acceleration and breaking, and this
could contribute to reduced emissions.
Self-driving cars could also potentially
utilize fuel-eﬃcient features such as route
mapping that is able to calculate and take
the most eﬃcient routes. Despite this
potential to reduce emissions, some
researchers theorize that an increase of
production of self-driving cars could lead
to a boom of vehicle ownership and use.
This boom could potentially negate any
environmental beneﬁts of self-driving cars
if a large enough number of people begin
driving personal vehicles more

Automation of homes and home

appliances is also thought to impact the
environment, but the beneﬁts of these
features are also questioned. A study of
energy consumption of automated homes
in Finland showed that smart homes could
reduce energy consumption by monitoring
levels of consumption in different areas of
the home and adjusting consumption to
reduce energy leaks (such as
automatically reducing consumption
during the nighttime when activity is low).
This study, along with others, indicated
that the smart home’s ability to monitor
and adjust consumption levels would
reduce unnecessary energy usage.
However, new research suggests that
smart homes might not be as eﬃcient as
non-automated homes. A more recent
study has indicated that, while monitoring
and adjusting consumption levels does
decrease unnecessary energy use, this
process requires monitoring systems that
also consume a signiﬁcant amount of
energy. This study suggested that the
energy required to run these systems is so
much so that it negates any beneﬁts of the
systems themselves, resulting in little to
no ecological beneﬁt.[54]

Convertibility and
turnaround time
Another major shift in automation is the
increased demand for ﬂexibility and
convertibility in manufacturing processes.
Manufacturers are increasingly demanding
the ability to easily switch from
manufacturing Product A to
manufacturing Product B without having
to completely rebuild the production lines.
Flexibility and distributed processes have
led to the introduction of Automated
Guided Vehicles with Natural Features

Digital electronics helped too. Former

analogue-based instrumentation was
replaced by digital equivalents which can
be more accurate and ﬂexible, and offer
greater scope for more sophisticated
conﬁguration, parametrization and
operation. This was accompanied by the
ﬁeldbus revolution which provided a
networked (i.e. a single cable) means of
communicating between control systems
and ﬁeld level instrumentation, eliminating

Discrete manufacturing plants adopted

these technologies fast. The more
conservative process industries with their
longer plant life cycles have been slower
to adopt and analogue-based
measurement and control still dominates.
The growing use of Industrial Ethernet on
the factory ﬂoor is pushing these trends
still further, enabling manufacturing plants
to be integrated more tightly within the
enterprise, via the internet if necessary.
Global competition has also increased
demand for Reconﬁgurable Manufacturing

Automation tools
Engineers can now have numerical control
over automated devices. The result has
been a rapidly expanding range of
applications and human activities.
Computer-aided technologies (or CAx)
now serve as the basis for mathematical
and organizational tools used to create
complex systems. Notable examples of
CAx include Computer-aided design (CAD
software) and Computer-aided
manufacturing (CAM software). The
improved design, analysis, and
manufacture of products enabled by CAx
has been beneﬁcial for industry.[55]

Information technology, together with

industrial machinery and processes, can
assist in the design, implementation, and
monitoring of control systems. One
example of an industrial control system is
a programmable logic controller (PLC).
PLCs are specialized hardened computers
which are frequently used to synchronize
the ﬂow of inputs from (physical) sensors
and events with the ﬂow of outputs to
actuators and events.[56]

An automated online assistant on a website, with an

avatar for enhanced human–computer interaction.

Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or

computer human interfaces (CHI),
formerly known as man-machine
interfaces, are usually employed to
communicate with PLCs and other
computers. Service personnel who
monitor and control through HMIs can be
called by different names. In industrial
process and manufacturing environments,
they are called operators or something
similar. In boiler houses and central
utilities departments they are called
stationary engineers.[57]

Different types of automation tools exist:

ANN – Artiﬁcial Neural Network

DCS – Distributed Control System
HMI – Human Machine Interface
SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data
PLC – Programmable Logic Controller
Motion control

When it comes to factory automation,

Host Simulation Software (HSS) is a
commonly used testing tool that is used to
test the equipment software. HSS is used
to test equipment performance with
respect to Factory Automation standards
(timeouts, response time, processing

Limitations to automation

Current technology is unable to

automate all the desired tasks.
Many operations using automation have
large amounts of invested capital and
produce high volumes of product,
making malfunctions extremely costly
and potentially hazardous. Therefore,
some personnel are needed to ensure
that the entire system functions properly
and that safety and product quality are
As a process becomes increasingly
automated, there is less and less labor
to be saved or quality improvement to
be gained. This is an example of both
diminishing returns and the logistic
As more and more processes become
automated, there are fewer remaining
non-automated processes. This is an
example of exhaustion of opportunities.
New technological paradigms may
however set new limits that surpass the
previous limits.

Current limitations

Many roles for humans in industrial

processes presently lie beyond the scope
of automation. Human-level pattern
recognition, language comprehension, and
language production ability are well
beyond the capabilities of modern
mechanical and computer systems (but
see Watson (computer)). Tasks requiring
subjective assessment or synthesis of
complex sensory data, such as scents and
sounds, as well as high-level tasks such as
strategic planning, currently require human
expertise. In many cases, the use of
humans is more cost-effective than
mechanical approaches even where
automation of industrial tasks is possible.
Overcoming these obstacles is a theorized
path to post-scarcity economics.

Paradox of automation

The paradox of automation says that the

more eﬃcient the automated system, the
more crucial the human contribution of the
operators. Humans are less involved, but
their involvement becomes more

If an automated system has an error, it will

multiply that error until it’s ﬁxed or shut
down. This is where human operators
come in.[60]

A fatal example of this was Air France

Flight 447, where a failure of automation
put the pilots into a manual situation they
were not prepared for.[61]

Cognitive automation
Cognitive automation, as a subset of
artiﬁcial intelligence,[62] is an emerging
genus of automation enabled by cognitive
computing. Its primary concern is the
automation of clerical tasks and
workﬂows that consist of structuring
unstructured data.[63]

Cognitive automation relies on multiple

disciplines: natural language processing,
real-time computing, machine learning
algorithms, big data analytics and
evidence-based learning. According to
Deloitte, cognitive automation enables the
replication of human tasks and judgment
“at rapid speeds and considerable

Such tasks include:

Document redaction
Data extraction and document synthesis
/ reporting
Contract management
Natural language search
Customer, employee, and stakeholder
Manual activities and veriﬁcations
Follow up and email communications

Recent and emerging

Automated power production

Technologies like solar panels, wind

turbines, and other renewable energy
sources, together with smart grids, micro-
grids, battery storage - can automate
power production.

KUKA industrial robots being used at a bakery for food

Automated retail

Food and drink

The food retail industry has started to

apply automation to the ordering process;
McDonald's has introduced touch screen
ordering and payment systems in many of
its restaurants, reducing the need for as
many cashier employees.[65] The
University of Texas at Austin has
introduced fully automated cafe retail
locations.[66] Some Cafes and restaurants
have utilized mobile and tablet "apps" to
make the ordering process more eﬃcient
by customers ordering and paying on their
device.[67] Some restaurants have
automated food delivery to customers
tables using a Conveyor belt system. The
use of robots is sometimes employed to
replace waiting staff.[68]


Many supermarkets and even smaller

stores are rapidly introducing Self
checkout systems reducing the need for
employing checkout workers. In the United
States, the retail industry employs 15.9
million people as of 2017 (around 1 in 9
Americans in the workforce). Globally, an
estimated 192 million workers could be
affected by automation according to
research by Eurasia Group.[69]

Online shopping could be considered a

form of automated retail as the payment
and checkout are through an automated
Online transaction processing system,
with the share of online retail accounting
jumping from 5.1% in 2011 to 8.3% in
2016. However, two-thirds of books, music
and ﬁlms are now purchased online. In
addition, automation and online shopping
could reduce demands for shopping malls,
and retail property, which in America is
currently estimated to account for 31% of
all commercial property or around 7 billion
square feet. Amazon has gained much of
the growth in recent years for online
shopping, accounting for half of the
growth in online retail in 2016.[69] Other
forms of automation can also be an
integral part of online shopping, for
example the deployment of automated
warehouse robotics such as that applied
by Amazon using Kiva Systems.

Automated mining

Automated mining involves the removal of

human labor from the mining process.[70]
The mining industry is currently in the
transition towards automation. Currently it
can still require a large amount of human
capital, particularly in the third world
where labor costs are low so there is less
incentive for increasing eﬃciency through

Automated video surveillance

The Defense Advanced Research Projects

Agency (DARPA) started the research and
development of automated visual
surveillance and monitoring (VSAM)
program, between 1997 and 1999, and
airborne video surveillance (AVS)
programs, from 1998 to 2002. Currently,
there is a major effort underway in the
vision community to develop a fully
automated tracking surveillance system.
Automated video surveillance monitors
people and vehicles in real time within a
busy environment. Existing automated
surveillance systems are based on the
environment they are primarily designed to
observe, i.e., indoor, outdoor or airborne,
the amount of sensors that the automated
system can handle and the mobility of
sensor, i.e., stationary camera vs. mobile
camera. The purpose of a surveillance
system is to record properties and
trajectories of objects in a given area,
generate warnings or notify designated
authority in case of occurrence of
particular events.[71]

Automated highway systems

As demands for safety and mobility have

grown and technological possibilities have
multiplied, interest in automation has
grown. Seeking to accelerate the
development and introduction of fully
automated vehicles and highways, the
United States Congress authorized more
than $650 million over six years for
intelligent transport systems (ITS) and
demonstration projects in the 1991
Intermodal Surface Transportation
Eﬃciency Act (ISTEA). Congress legislated
in ISTEA that "the Secretary of
Transportation shall develop an
automated highway and vehicle prototype
from which future fully automated
intelligent vehicle-highway systems can be
developed. Such development shall
include research in human factors to
ensure the success of the man-machine
relationship. The goal of this program is to
have the ﬁrst fully automated highway
roadway or an automated test track in
operation by 1997. This system shall
accommodate installation of equipment in
new and existing motor vehicles." [ISTEA
1991, part B, Section 6054(b)].
Full automation commonly deﬁned as
requiring no control or very limited control
by the driver; such automation would be
accomplished through a combination of
sensor, computer, and communications
systems in vehicles and along the
roadway. Fully automated driving would, in
theory, allow closer vehicle spacing and
higher speeds, which could enhance traﬃc
capacity in places where additional road
building is physically impossible, politically
unacceptable, or prohibitively expensive.
Automated controls also might enhance
road safety by reducing the opportunity for
driver error, which causes a large share of
motor vehicle crashes. Other potential
beneﬁts include improved air quality (as a
result of more-eﬃcient traﬃc ﬂows),
increased fuel economy, and spin-off
technologies generated during research
and development related to automated
highway systems.[72]

Automated waste management

Play media
Automated side loader operation
Automated waste collection trucks prevent
the need for as many workers as well as
easing the level of labor required to
provide the service.[73]

Business process automation

Business process automation (BPA) is the

technology-enabled automation of
complex[74] business processes. It can
help to streamline a business for
simplicity, achieve digital transformation,
increase service quality, improve service
delivery or contain costs. BPA consists of
integrating applications, restructuring
labor resources and using software
applications throughout the organization.
Robotic process automation is an
emerging ﬁeld within BPA and uses
artiﬁcial intelligence. BPAs can be
implemented in a number of business
areas including marketing,[75] sales[76] and

Home automation

Home automation (also called domotics)

designates an emerging practice of
increased automation of household
appliances and features in residential
dwellings, particularly through electronic
means that allow for things impracticable,
overly expensive or simply not possible in
recent past decades. The rise in the usage
of home automation solutions has taken a
turn reﬂecting the increased dependency
of people on such automation solutions.
However, the increased comfort that gets
added through these automation solutions
is remarkable.[78]

Laboratory automation

Automated laboratory instrument

Automation is essential for many scientiﬁc
and clinical applications.[79] Therefore,
automation has been extensively
employed in laboratories. From as early as
1980 fully automated laboratories have
already been working.[80] However,
automation has not become widespread in
laboratories due to its high cost. This may
change with the ability of integrating low-
cost devices with standard laboratory
equipment.[81][82] Autosamplers are
common devices used in laboratory

Logistics automation
Industrial automation

Industrial automation deals primarily with

the automation of manufacturing, quality
control and material handling processes.
General purpose controllers for industrial
processes include Programmable logic
controllers, stand-alone I/O modules, and
computers. Industrial automation is to
replace the decision making of humans
and manual command-response activities
with the use of mechanised equipment
and logical programming commands. One
trend is increased use of Machine vision to
provide automatic inspection and robot
guidance functions, another is a
continuing increase in the use of robots.
Industrial automation is simply require in

The integration of control and information

across the enterprise enables industries to
optimise industrial process operations.

Energy eﬃciency in industrial processes

has become a higher priority.
Semiconductor companies like Inﬁneon
Technologies are offering 8-bit micro-
controller applications for example found
in motor controls, general purpose pumps,
fans, and ebikes to reduce energy
consumption and thus increase eﬃciency.
Industrial Automation and
Industry 4.0

The rise of industrial automation is directly

tied to the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”,
which is better known now as Industry 4.0.
Originating from Germany, Industry 4.0
encompasses numerous devises,
concepts, and machines.[83] It, along with
the advancement of the Industrial Internet
of Things (formally known as the IoT or
IIoT) which is “Internet of Things is a
seamless integration of diverse physical
objects in the Internet through a virtual
representation”.[84] These new
revolutionary advancements have drawn
attention to the world of automation in an
entirely new light and shown ways for it to
grow to increase productivity and
eﬃciency in machinery and manufacturing
facilities. Industry 4.0 works with the IIoT
and software/hardware to connect in a
way that (through communication
technologies) add enhancements and
improve manufacturing processes. Being
able to create smarter, safer, and more
advanced manufacturing is now possible
with these new technologies. It opens up a
manufacturing platform that is more
reliable, consistent, and eﬃcient that
before. Implementation of systems such
as SCADA are an example of software that
take place in Industrial Automation today.
SCADA is a supervisory data collection
software, just one of the many used in
Industrial Automation.[85] Industry 4.0
vastly covers many areas in manufacturing
and will continue to do so as time goes

Industrial Robotics

Automated milling machines

Industrial robotics is a sub-branch in the
industrial automation that aids in various
manufacturing processes. Such
manufacturing processes include;
machining, welding, painting, assembling
and material handling to name a few.[86]
Industrial robots utilizes various
mechanical, electrical as well as software
systems to allow for high precision,
accuracy and speed that far exceeds any
human performance. The birth of
industrial robot came shortly after World
War II as United States saw the need for a
quicker way to produce industrial and
consumer goods.[87] Servos, digital logic
and solid state electronics allowed
engineers to build better and faster
systems and overtime these systems were
improved and revised to the point where a
single robot is capable of running 24 hours
a day with little or no maintenance. In
1997, there were 700,000 industrial robots
in use, the number has risen to 1.8M in
2017[88] In recent years, artiﬁcial
intelligence (AI) with robotics are also
used in creating an automatic labelling
solution, using robotic arms as the
automatic label applicator, and AI for
learning and detecting the products to be

Programmable Logic Controllers

Industrial automation incorporates
programmable logic controllers in the
manufacturing process. Programmable
logic controllers (PLCs) use a processing
system which allows for variation of
controls of inputs and outputs using
simple programming. PLCs make use of
programmable memory, storing
instructions and functions like logic,
sequencing, timing, counting, etc. Using a
logic based language, a PLC can receive a
variety of inputs and return a variety of
logical outputs, the input devices being
sensors and output devices being motors,
valves, etc. PLCs are similar to computers,
however, while computers are optimized
for calculations, PLCs are optimized for
control task and use in industrial
environments. They are built so that only
basic logic-based programming
knowledge is needed and to handle
vibrations, high temperatures, humidity
and noise. The greatest advantage PLCs
offer is their ﬂexibility. With the same
basic controllers, a PLC can operate a
range of different control systems. PLCs
make it unnecessary to rewire a system to
change the control system. This ﬂexibility
leads to a cost-effective system for
complex and varied control systems.[90]


and communication processor (CP).

PLCs can range from small "building brick"

devices with tens of I/O in a housing
integral with the processor, to large rack-
mounted modular devices with a count of
thousands of I/O, and which are often
networked to other PLC and SCADA

They can be designed for multiple

arrangements of digital and analog inputs
and outputs (I/O), extended temperature
ranges, immunity to electrical noise, and
resistance to vibration and impact.
Programs to control machine operation
are typically stored in battery-backed-up or
non-volatile memory.

It was from the automotive industry in the

USA that the PLC was born. Before the
PLC, control, sequencing, and safety
interlock logic for manufacturing
automobiles was mainly composed of
relays, cam timers, drum sequencers, and
dedicated closed-loop controllers. Since
these could number in the hundreds or
even thousands, the process for updating
such facilities for the yearly model change-
over was very time consuming and
expensive, as electricians needed to
individually rewire the relays to change
their operational characteristics.

When digital computers became available,

being general-purpose programmable
devices, they were soon applied to control
sequential and combinatorial logic in
industrial processes. However these early
computers required specialist
programmers and stringent operating
environmental control for temperature,
cleanliness, and power quality. To meet
these challenges this the PLC was
developed with several key attributes. It
would tolerate the shop-ﬂoor environment,
it would support discrete (bit-form) input
and output in an easily extensible manner,
it would not require years of training to
use, and it would permit its operation to be
monitored. Since many industrial
processes have timescales easily
addressed by millisecond response times,
modern (fast, small, reliable) electronics
greatly facilitate building reliable
controllers, and performance could be
traded off for reliability.[91]

Agent-assisted automation

Agent-assisted automation refers to

automation used by call center agents to
handle customer inquiries. There are two
basic types: desktop automation and
automated voice solutions. Desktop
automation refers to software
programming that makes it easier for the
call center agent to work across multiple
desktop tools. The automation would take
the information entered into one tool and
populate it across the others so it did not
have to be entered more than once, for
example. Automated voice solutions allow
the agents to remain on the line while
disclosures and other important
information is provided to customers in
the form of pre-recorded audio ﬁles.
Specialized applications of these
automated voice solutions enable the
agents to process credit cards without
ever seeing or hearing the credit card
numbers or CVV codes[92]

The key beneﬁt of agent-assisted

automation is compliance and error-
prooﬁng. Agents are sometimes not fully
trained or they forget or ignore key steps in
the process. The use of automation
ensures that what is supposed to happen
on the call actually does, every time.

Relationship to
Research by Carl Benedikt Frey and
Michael Osborne of the Oxford Martin
School argued that employees engaged in
"tasks following well-deﬁned procedures
that can easily be performed by
sophisticated algorithms" are at risk of
displacement, and 47 per cent of jobs in
the US were at risk. The study, released as
a working paper in 2013 and published in
2017, predicted that automation would put
low-paid physical occupations most at
risk, by surveying a group of colleagues on
their opinions.[93] However, according to a
study published in McKinsey Quarterly[94]
in 2015 the impact of computerization in
most cases is not replacement of
employees but automation of portions of
the tasks they perform.[95] The
methodology of the McKinsey study has
been heavily criticized for being
intransparent and relying on subjective
assessments.[96] The methodology of Frey
and Osborne has been subjected to
criticism, as lacking evidence, historical
awareness, or credible methodology.[97][98]
In addition the OECD, found that across
the 21 OECD countries, 9% of jobs are

The Obama White House has pointed out

that every 3 months "about 6 percent of
jobs in the economy are destroyed by
shrinking or closing businesses, while a
slightly larger percentage of jobs are
added".[100] A recent MIT economics study
of automation in the United States from
1990 to 2007 found that there may be a
negative impact on employment and
wages when robots are introduced to an
industry. When one robot is added per one
thousand workers, the employment to
population ratio decreases between 0.18–
0.34 percentages and wages are reduced
by 0.25–0.5 percentage points. During the
time period studied, the US did not have
many robots in the economy which
restricts the impact of automation.
However, automation is expected to triple
(conservative estimate) or quadruple
(generous estimate) leading these
numbers to become substantially

Based on a formula by Gilles Saint-Paul, an

economist at Toulouse 1 University, the
demand for unskilled human capital
declines at a slower rate than the demand
for skilled human capital increases.[102] In
the long run and for society as a whole it
has led to cheaper products, lower average
work hours, and new industries forming
(i.e., robotics industries, computer
industries, design industries). These new
industries provide many high salary skill
based jobs to the economy. By 2030,
between 3 and 14 percent of the global
workforce will be forced to switch job
categories due to automation eliminating
jobs in an entire sector. While the number
of jobs lost to automation are often offset
by jobs gained from technological
advances, the same type of job lost is not
the same one replaced and that leading to
increasing unemployment in the lower-
middle class. This occurs largely in the US
and developed countries where
technological advances contribute to
higher demand for high skilled labor but
demand for middle wage labor continues
to fall. Economists call this trend “income
polarization” where unskilled labor wages
are driven down and skilled labor is driven
up and it is predicted to continue in
developed economies.[103]

Unemployment is becoming a problem in

the United States due to the exponential
growth rate of automation and technology.
According to Kim, Kim, and Lee (2017), “A
seminal study by Frey and Osborne in
2013 predicted that 47% of the 702
examined occupations in the United States
faced a high risk of decreased
employment rate within the next 10–25
years as a result of computerization”. (p.
1). As many jobs are becoming obsolete,
which is causing job displacement, one
possible solution would be for the
government to assist with a universal
basic income (UBI) program. UBI would be
a guaranteed, non-taxed income of around
$1000 dollars per month, paid to all U.S.
citizens over the age of 21. UBI would help
those who are displaced, take on jobs that
pay less money and still afford to get by. It
would also give those that are employed
with jobs that are likely to be replaced by
automation and technology, extra money
to spend on education and training on new
demanding employment skills.

See also
Automated storage and retrieval system
Automation technician
Cognitive computing
Dirty, dangerous and demeaning
Futures studies
Machine to machine
Mobile manipulator
Multi-agent system
Process control
Productivity improving technologies
Robotic process automation
Control engineering
Feedforward control
Data-driven control system
Technological unemployment


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