Introduction to Industrial Automation and Control
Wednesday, 24 September 2008The word ‘Automation’ is derived from greek words “Auto”(self) and “Matos” (moving). Automation therefore is the mechanism for systems that “move by itself”. However, apart from this original sense of the word, automated systems also achieve significantly superior performance than what is possible with manual systems, in terms of power, precision and speed of operation. Definition: Automation is a set of technologies that results in operation of machines and systems without significant human intervention and achieves performance superior to manual operation A Definition from Encyclopaedia Britannica The application of machines to tasks once performed by human beings or, increasingly, to tasks that would otherwise be impossible. Although the term mechanization is often used to refer to the simple replacement of human labour by machines, automation generally implies the integration of machines into a selfgoverning system. Download
