Introduction to Automation Technology

Automation is one of the finest processes we use daily in various industries to reduce the workload and make work done in less time and with minimum effort. Automation isn’t a new concept but it’s being used in a whole new manner. It’s not just about machine learning, artificial intelligence, or robotics, it’s about designing an automated system that makes your life simple and easy, just as we see in popular cartoons like “The Terminator”, and “I, Robot”. Automation can make our life best at one point and worst at another. It depends on us whether we are getting dependent on automotive technologies or just using them to make our life simpler. This article takes this discussion forward where we are talking about various aspects of this arising technology, how it was evolved, how can it be used for the best, and what major impact is it creating in our lives.

Introduction

The whole world has started defining the processes and has automated the working of many industries. Automating every process has become a trend over time. It simply means, doing things with minimum or no human intervention. This pandemic is the biggest example where within a few months, everything changed. Shifting everything from offline to online wasn’t easy but it is more comfortable and now it’s the “new normal” where you can attend meetings and conferences by sitting in your pajamas, eating food, and working according to your schedule. It’s just because we have “automated” the process and have built systems around it. 

Automation ranges from a household process automating saving time, to automating the industrial control system with thousands of inputs and output control signals.

Let’s get into the brief of this technology, covering the detailed aspects of it. 

Automation- History and Evolution of the technology

Automation isn’t a new concept but now it is used in a whole different form. Humans started making machines and small automating devices to do more work in less time and with less effort. We have come a long way from making pulleys to reduce our work, to making machinery to delegate our work. 

Automation is more than ML, AI, and robotics, These are just the latest versions of automation technology that have blown our minds in the past few decades. 

In 1785, Edmond Cartwright invented a mechanized loom. Based on penetrated wooden boards, his invention made it available for people to produce fabrics that too with uniform patterns. The basic principle of mechanization as exemplified by the loom represented the first decisive step towards what would become the textile industry, which exactly was the first step towards creating an automated machine to do tasks. 

In 1788, James Watt laid the basic foundation of modern control technology automating systems,  

In 1913, Henry Ford tried hard to produce an entire car at the lowest cost. He installed the first moving assembly line for its mass production and this innovation changed everything. The time span of building a car was reduced to less than three hours when previously it was more than twelve. To reduce the costs of cars even further, he has completely changed the production process in order to attain maximum efficiency. While producing the Model T automobile, he broke the streamlining production process into 84 steps giving specialized training to every worker to master just one step. Henry’s assembly line was inspired by the continuous-flow production methods and is currently used by flour mills, canneries, breweries, and industrial bakeries.

 

Over the past forty years, information technology has completely changed the office environment. Communication, filing, and documenting are some of the functions that have become fully automated reducing the unnecessary workload from humans. Offices today have a completely different feel, look, and working than what used to exist in the early 1950s.

How does the technology works?

Automation technology consists of all the processes and work equipment that enable systems and plants to run automatically. These include machinery, apparatus, equipment, and various other devices. The main advantage of using automation systems is they have minimal human intervention and maximum utilization.

Automation systems measure and control the additional system operations which include regulating and communicating. The control room or we can say - the human-machine interface - is the technical efficiency from which all further processes are monitored.

The individual automation technology subsystems contain several specialized components. Measurements are specifically performed under the aid of sensors. They are able to encounter and resolve physical and chemical conditions, such as heat, pressure, and humidity. A distinction is made between passive and active sensors. A wide range of such detectors has been developed so that automated systems can function well. 

Digital systems are programmed to perform using a logic controller known as a programmable logic controller, PLC. Magnets, valves, and motors are actuators through which the control commands are transmitted. Making necessary modifications in the connections becomes more efficient through PLC where systems use wired connection-programmed controllers. Such a type of controller was introduced in 1973 in Europe after five years of its development in the USA. 

Computer Automation technology uses various types of actuators and sensors, regulating the system makes it flexible to achieve the target value and adjust the requirements whenever needed. 

Automation technology pillars in real world

Automations are everywhere around us. Starting from automated stirring devices, life capturing cameras, flat automated kitchens, parking systems, restaurants, pet doors, bicycle illumination, driverless cars, garage opener apps, etc. There is absolutely no limit as to how these automating systems can be applied.

1. Automation and the office environment

2. Flexible working hours and Automation 

3. Automation technology in the Manufacturing environment

4. Automation changing the society

    

"If we look at the analytics from 2010 to 2016, only 2-5% increase in jobs has given 10-20% increase in output which clearly shows that more work on now done by fewer people as the majority of the work is automated

In a period of 4 years, the number of robots working in various industries rose by nearly 60%

Online courses leading to a reduction in offline teachers

According to a Deloitte and Reform report, 861,000 UK public sector jobs are expected to get automated by 2030 which would cut the wage bill by £17 million reducing the workforce by 16%.

Do we need Automation?

Everything utilized in a limit works well and everything out of limit destroys the essence of the same. Automation technology is indeed one of the most effective technologies we use and will be highly used in the future. Can you even think about the problems you may be facing if you don’t have the automated systems, you use daily? We guess it’s quite difficult to even think of it. 

Automatic systems have many advantages and some of them can be summed up here- 

1. Machines are able to perform tiring routine jobs.

2. Prevents people to get involved in dangerous and physically exhausting processes.

3. Machines are proved to have a high level of performance than men doing the same work. 

4. They reduce human efforts, provide them with a more efficient product or service and in the minimum time possible. 

Future trends

In fact, automated machines are all set to replace almost half of the global workforce in the coming decade. 

Major industries like manufacturing and banking, are going forward to adopt automated systems to drive maximum productivity of the task performed, the safety of their employees, make maximum profits, and deliver quality products or services.

Automation will boost connectivity and reliability in a hyper-competitive ecosystem. The future of automation looks bright and flourishing where everything will be made accessible and easily available. 

The future of automation technology can be considered as an asset which sometimes can be a liability depending on our actions, on one side automotive machines boost efficiency and reliability but it may push up the unemployment rate in the future as the robots are doing things far better than humans can do.

Conclusion

We discussed how this automation technology has changed our lives today and how it’s going to impact our future. Automation is the near future we have to accept and start working upon it so that it does not replace humans completely harming humanity badly. Automations can interconnect us digitally, plan and execute tasks at a faster rate and give us secure communication channels to communicate. Automation can reduce human intervention in tasks that can be programmed in a particular way and then can be delegated to automating systems, giving us more time to discover untravelled paths and come up with new useful inventions.