The origins of automation

Human innovation has always had the aim of making things better. Either improving an object so that it is better at what it does, or creating something new to make life easier. 

Automation, or the process of increasing application of machines to perform tasks that were formerly performed by humans, is intrinsic to this concept of human innovation. It's a natural progression from steam powered machinery to self-guided machines. 

The 'Analytical Engine', the world's first machine labelled 'computer', was invented in 1837 by Charles Babbage, following a long tradition of humans trying to find easier, faster and cheaper ways to get their tasks done. A big technological advance of the Middle Ages in this regard is the development of watermills for different tasks beyond milling grain. For instance, mills were developed for fulling wool mechanically: an otherwise intensive labour. 

The culmination of this long tradition of mechanisation and automation really picks up in 1946. According to www.brittanica.com, "The term automation was coined in the automobile industry about 1946 to describe the increased use of automatic devices and controls in mechanised production lines. The origin of the word is attributed to D.S. Harder, an engineering manager at the Ford Motor Company at the time." Mechanisation describes the process of replacing human labour with machines, and it's a term that seems to be used less and less as automation becomes more prominent. Automation not only replaces basic labour, but also suggests an integration into a self-governing system. 

Nowadays, robotic assembly lines or automated machines in a factory are nothing special. It's almost a given that when a business reaches a certain scale, robots will be involved at some stage. I have a friend who is a manager at a chicken farm and his recent efforts have been to introduce robots at the farm, which will end up saving the company something in the range of £7million each year. 

But beyond the relatively simple robotic arms of assembly lines, machines are becoming more advanced and more interconnected. With different systems being able to communicate directly, without the need for a human 'translator', industries are rapidly advancing to a true Internet of Things (IoT).

A big development in this field is not only the physical robotics side of things, but the software that runs them. More specifically, Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays an increasing role in all walks of life. Although most products still require some human touch for complete production, pretty soon more and more industries will become fully automated thanks to the autonomous systems run on AI software. 

You've probably glanced past the title picture at the top, and may not have noticed that it's not a photograph. If you look again, you'll notice it looks more like a painting. But if you haven't guessed already, it wasn't painted by a human, but it was created by an AI system based on a simple prompt that I gave it.