Systems and Technology

Computers have had a huge impact on our lives since their conception in the later half of the 20th century. From communication to transportation, from manufacturing to design – there is hardly a single aspect of modern life that has not been influenced greatly by the introduction of digital technology. One of the biggest and most measurable changes in the modern world since the onset of the digital age is in the areas surrounding automation and control. Automation is defined as the use of control systems to drive particular applications, thus reducing the need for human intervention. In terms of late 20th and early 21st century industrialisation, automation is a step beyond mechanisation, and is heavily linked with computerisation and the rise of digital information technology.

With a mechanised process, human operators are used to assist and work side by side with machinery in order to meet certain goals. With automated processes however, the work flow is shifted, reducing the need for sensory and mental human intervention. Automation plays an absolutely massive role in the 21st century world economy, where it is used in a number of individual control systems and processes. Some of the control systems that are regularly automated in the modern world include numerical control, logic control, industrial control, and information control. Computers are at the very heart of these processes, and automation would be almost unthinkable without them.

Computers are the brains of modern automation, and advances in computer engineering are one of the major factors behind the spread and advancement of automated procedures throughout the modern world. Whether it is designing automated systems, controlling input and output, or analysing feedback from automated mechanisms, computers are vital to every stage of automated control. For example, programmable logic computers, sensors, and computer-human interfaces often form a chain of operation within industrialised processes and manufacturing environments. The Internet has had a huge effect of global culture, and because it is easier to build a website than ever before, this is also having an effect on the decentralisation of knowledge. Linux notebooks (linux-onlineshop.de) and other accessible products are helping to make technology available to more people all the time.

The everyday lives of people around the world have been changed dramatically through innovations in automation, especially in relation to the modern work place and the role of humans within it. Manufacturing and telephone operation are two widely noted impact areas, where automated processes regularly impact on real world jobs. While the role of automation in the 21st century workplace may be controversial at times, there is no denying that automated control is here to stay, and likely to grow and include a wider range of industries and economic sectors.