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106-581: The Telenoid R1, unlike its counterparts the Geminoid HI-1 and Geminoid F, is designed to be an ambiguous figure, able to be recognized as any gender and any age. The Telenoid R1 has a minimalistic design; it is roughly the size of an infant with a bald head, a doll-like face, and automated stubs instead of arms. It contains 9 actuators which allows the R1 to have 9 degrees of freedom. Each eye can move horizontally independent from each other, but their vertical movement

212-481: A lawyer , doctor , engineer , journalist are at risk of automation. Prospects are particularly bleak for occupations that do not presently require a university degree, such as truck driving. Even in high-tech corridors like Silicon Valley , concern is spreading about a future in which a sizable percentage of adults have little chance of sustaining gainful employment. "In The Second Machine Age, Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee argue that "...there's never been

318-502: A (near-) synonym both by Harris and in later language derives ultimately (via Old French ) from Latin ingenium 'ingenuity, an invention'. The hand axe , made by chipping flint to form a wedge , in the hands of a human transforms force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting forces and movement of the workpiece. The hand axe is the first example of a wedge , the oldest of the six classic simple machines , from which most machines are based. The second oldest simple machine

424-420: A better time to be a worker with special skills or the right education, because these people can use technology to create and capture value. However, there's never been a worse time to be a worker with only 'ordinary' skills and abilities to offer, because computers, robots, and other digital technologies are acquiring these skills and abilities at an extraordinary rate." As the example of Sweden suggests, however,

530-446: A good thing, due to the country's still-powerful unions and a more robust national safety net . In the U.S., 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. Even highly skilled professional jobs like

636-454: A home in the banking industry. It can range from simple on-off control to multi-variable high-level algorithms in terms of control complexity. 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

742-530: A hug. Other actions are random such was breathing and blinking which gives the R1 a sense of being "alive." The R1's main use is being an advanced video conferencing tool. The Telenoid is able to interact with the owner as if it was the person sending the message. Researchers shared that they hope the Telenoid R1 will be used mainly as a communication device that can be applied to work, education, and elderly care . Employees who are unable to go into work can use

848-440: 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 . 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. The machine, operated by

954-401: A lever is modeled as a hinged or revolute joint . Wheel: The wheel is an important early machine, such as the chariot . A wheel uses the law of the lever to reduce the force needed to overcome friction when pulling a load. To see this notice that the friction associated with pulling a load on the ground is approximately the same as the friction in a simple bearing that supports the load on

1060-420: A machine is "a device for applying power or changing its direction."McCarthy and Soh describe a machine as a system that "generally consists of a power source and a mechanism for the controlled use of this power." Human and animal effort were the original power sources for early machines. Waterwheel: Waterwheels appeared around the world around 300 BC to use flowing water to generate rotary motion, which

1166-470: A machine provides a way to understand the performance of devices ranging from levers and gear trains to automobiles and robotic systems. The German mechanician Franz Reuleaux wrote, "a machine is a combination of resistant bodies so arranged that by their means the mechanical forces of nature can be compelled to do work accompanied by certain determinate motion." Notice that forces and motion combine to define power . More recently, Uicker et al. stated that

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1272-401: 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 paper, the 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

1378-838: A mechanical system is assembled from components called machine elements . These elements provide structure for the system and control its movement. The structural components are, generally, the frame members, bearings, splines, springs, seals, fasteners and covers. The shape, texture and color of covers provide a styling and operational interface between the mechanical system and its users. The assemblies that control movement are also called " mechanisms ." Mechanisms are generally classified as gears and gear trains , which includes belt drives and chain drives , cam and follower mechanisms, and linkages , though there are other special mechanisms such as clamping linkages, indexing mechanisms , escapements and friction devices such as brakes and clutches . The number of degrees of freedom of

1484-500: A mechanism, or its mobility, depends on the number of links and joints and the types of joints used to construct the mechanism. The general mobility of a mechanism is the difference between the unconstrained freedom of the links and the number of constraints imposed by the joints. It is described by the Chebychev–Grübler–Kutzbach criterion . The transmission of rotation between contacting toothed wheels can be traced back to

1590-452: 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 and 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

1696-412: A point farther from the pivot is greater than the velocity of a point near the pivot, forces applied far from the pivot are amplified near the pivot by the associated decrease in speed. If a is the distance from the pivot to the point where the input force is applied and b is the distance to the point where the output force is applied, then a/b is the mechanical advantage of the lever. The fulcrum of

1802-430: A pressure vessel; the expanding steam drives a piston or a turbine. This principle can be seen in the aeolipile of Hero of Alexandria. This is called an external combustion engine . An automobile engine is called an internal combustion engine because it burns fuel (an exothermic chemical reaction) inside a cylinder and uses the expanding gases to drive a piston . A jet engine uses a turbine to compress air which

1908-520: A programmable drum machine , where they could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns. During the Renaissance , the dynamics of the Mechanical Powers , as the simple machines were called, began to be studied from the standpoint of how much useful work they could perform, leading eventually to the new concept of mechanical work . In 1586 Flemish engineer Simon Stevin derived

2014-441: 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 spinning. Several improvements to

2120-431: A short-term solution as it doesn't fully address the issue of income inequality which will be exacerbated by job displacement. 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 to "replace risk-averse bureaucracy with automation and robots". However,

2226-455: A specific application of output forces and movement, (iii) a controller with sensors that compare the output to a performance goal and then directs the actuator input, and (iv) an interface to an operator consisting of levers, switches, and displays. This can be seen in Watt's steam engine in which the power is provided by steam expanding to drive the piston. The walking beam, coupler and crank transform

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2332-586: A study published in McKinsey Quarterly in 2015 the impact of computerization in most cases is not the replacement of employees but the automation of portions of the tasks they perform. The methodology of the McKinsey study has been heavily criticized for being intransparent and relying on subjective assessments. The methodology of Frey and Osborne has been subjected to criticism, as lacking evidence, historical awareness, or credible methodology. Additionally,

2438-646: A system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement. They can also include computers and sensors that monitor performance and plan movement, often called mechanical systems . Renaissance natural philosophers identified six simple machines which were the elementary devices that put a load into motion, and calculated the ratio of output force to input force, known today as mechanical advantage . Modern machines are complex systems that consist of structural elements, mechanisms and control components and include interfaces for convenient use. Examples include:

2544-422: A theoretical basis for understanding control theory. Relay logic was introduced with factory electrification , which underwent rapid adaption from 1900 through the 1920s. Central electric power stations were also undergoing rapid growth and the 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

2650-430: 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

2756-403: A wide range of vehicles , such as trains , automobiles , boats and airplanes ; appliances in the home and office, including computers, building air handling and water handling systems ; as well as farm machinery , machine tools and factory automation systems and robots . The English word machine comes through Middle French from Latin machina , which in turn derives from

2862-436: Is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecules, such as molecular machines . Machines can be driven by animals and people , by natural forces such as wind and water , and by chemical , thermal , or electrical power, and include

2968-416: Is also loosely associated with mechanization, machines replacing human labor. Coupled with mechanization, extending human capabilities in terms of size, strength, speed, endurance, visual range & acuity, hearing frequency & precision, electromagnetic sensing & effecting, etc., advantages include: The main disadvantages of automation are: The paradox of automation says that the more efficient

3074-457: Is also thought to impact the environment. 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 (e.g. automatically reducing consumption during the nighttime when activity is low). This study, along with others, indicated that

3180-411: 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. The term automation , inspired by the earlier word automatic (coming from automaton ), was not widely used before 1947, when Ford established an automation department. Del Harder, a Ford Motor Company’s engineer manager was the first to use

3286-410: Is burned with fuel so that it expands through a nozzle to provide thrust to an aircraft , and so is also an "internal combustion engine." Power plant: The heat from coal and natural gas combustion in a boiler generates steam that drives a steam turbine to rotate an electric generator . A nuclear power plant uses heat from a nuclear reactor to generate steam and electric power . This power

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3392-423: Is called the cam (also see cam shaft ) and the link that is driven through the direct contact of their surfaces is called the follower. The shape of the contacting surfaces of the cam and follower determines the movement of the mechanism. A linkage is a collection of links connected by joints. Generally, the links are the structural elements and the joints allow movement. Perhaps the single most useful example

3498-603: Is distributed through a network of transmission lines for industrial and individual use. Motors: Electric motors use either AC or DC electric current to generate rotational movement. Electric servomotors are the actuators for mechanical systems ranging from robotic systems to modern aircraft . Fluid Power: Hydraulic and pneumatic systems use electrically driven pumps to drive water or air respectively into cylinders to power linear movement . Electrochemical: Chemicals and materials can also be sources of power. They may chemically deplete or need re-charging, as

3604-510: Is done with robots and automatic welders are used in applications like pipelines. 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

3710-605: Is expected to triple (conservative estimate) or quadruple (a generous estimate) leading these numbers to become substantially higher. 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. 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

3816-401: Is made by chipping stone, generally flint, to form a bifacial edge, or wedge . A wedge is a simple machine that transforms lateral force and movement of the tool into a transverse splitting force and movement of the workpiece. The available power is limited by the effort of the person using the tool, but because power is the product of force and movement, the wedge amplifies the force by reducing

3922-495: Is synced. The mouth is able to open and close to emulate talking. The 3 actuators in the neck provide yaw, pitch, and roll rotations for the neck. The final two actuators are used for motion in the arms. A webcam or other video capturing device can record a person's movements and voice and send them to the R1 using Wi-Fi connection. Some movements and expressions are pre-programmed into the Telenoid R1. Some of these controllable behaviors are saying bye, being happy, and motioning for

4028-420: Is the case with batteries , or they may produce power without changing their state, which is the case for solar cells and thermoelectric generators . All of these, however, still require their energy to come from elsewhere. With batteries, it is the already existing chemical potential energy inside. In solar cells and thermoelectrics, the energy source is light and heat respectively. The mechanism of

4134-480: 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 Navigation. Digital electronics helped too. Former analog-based instrumentation

4240-421: Is the planar four-bar linkage . However, there are many more special linkages: A planar mechanism is a mechanical system that is constrained so the trajectories of points in all the bodies of the system lie on planes parallel to a ground plane. The rotational axes of hinged joints that connect the bodies in the system are perpendicular to this ground plane. A spherical mechanism is a mechanical system in which

4346-510: The Antikythera mechanism of Greece and the south-pointing chariot of China . Illustrations by the renaissance scientist Georgius Agricola show gear trains with cylindrical teeth. The implementation of the involute tooth yielded a standard gear design that provides a constant speed ratio. Some important features of gears and gear trains are: A cam and follower is formed by the direct contact of two specially shaped links. The driving link

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4452-509: The Greek ( Doric μαχανά makhana , Ionic μηχανή mekhane 'contrivance, machine, engine', a derivation from μῆχος mekhos 'means, expedient, remedy' ). The word mechanical (Greek: μηχανικός ) comes from the same Greek roots. A wider meaning of 'fabric, structure' is found in classical Latin, but not in Greek usage. This meaning is found in late medieval French, and is adopted from

4558-478: 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. More recently, some residents of Chandler, Arizona , have slashed tires and pelted rocks at self-driving car , in protest over

4664-518: 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% 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. However, according to

4770-467: The Second World War to fire control systems and aircraft navigation systems . Controllers, which were able to make calculated changes in response to deviations from a set point rather than on-off control, began being introduced in the 1930s. Controllers allowed manufacturing to continue showing productivity gains to offset the declining influence of factory electrification. Factory productivity

4876-565: The Twelfth Dynasty (1991–1802 BC). The screw , the last of the simple machines to be invented, first appeared in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period (911–609) BC. The Egyptian pyramids were built using three of the six simple machines, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the lever. Three of the simple machines were studied and described by Greek philosopher Archimedes around

4982-491: The lever , pulley and screw as simple machines . By the time of the Renaissance this list increased to include the wheel and axle , wedge and inclined plane . The modern approach to characterizing machines focusses on the components that allow movement, known as joints . Wedge (hand axe): Perhaps the first example of a device designed to manage power is the hand axe , also called biface and Olorgesailie . A hand axe

5088-554: The personal computer (1983). 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. 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

5194-813: The 1840s. 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

5300-402: The 1920s, but as late as the early 1930s, most process controls were 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 changes. The development of

5406-516: The 3rd century BC: the lever, pulley and screw. Archimedes discovered the principle of mechanical advantage in the lever. Later Greek philosophers defined the classic five simple machines (excluding the inclined plane) and were able to roughly calculate their mechanical advantage. Hero of Alexandria ( c.  10 –75 AD) in his work Mechanics lists five mechanisms that can "set a load in motion"; lever, windlass , pulley, wedge, and screw, and describes their fabrication and uses. However,

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5512-535: The Banu Musa brothers. They also described a feedback controller . The design of feedback control systems up through the Industrial Revolution was by trial-and-error, together with a great deal of engineering intuition. It was not until the mid-19th century that the stability of feedback control systems was analyzed using mathematics, the formal language of automatic control theory. The centrifugal governor

5618-547: The French into English in the mid-16th century. In the 17th century, the word machine could also mean a scheme or plot, a meaning now expressed by the derived machination . The modern meaning develops out of specialized application of the term to stage engines used in theater and to military siege engines , both in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The OED traces the formal, modern meaning to John Harris ' Lexicon Technicum (1704), which has: The word engine used as

5724-1059: The Geminoid F has a more friendly face that people are more eager to interact with. Geminoid F co-starred in the 2015 Japanese film Sayonara , promoted as "the first movie to feature an android performing opposite a human actor". Automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, mainly by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines. 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 combinations of all of these techniques. The benefit of automation includes labor savings, reducing waste, savings in electricity costs, savings in material costs, and improvements to quality, accuracy, and precision. Automation includes

5830-481: The Geminoid F was to create a robot that can display a wide range of facial expressions using less actuators than earlier models. While the Geminoid HI-1 has 50 actuators, the Geminoid F only has 12. Instead of filling a large external box with compressors and valves, as seen in the HI-1, the researchers implemented these parts into the body of the Geminoid F, so it requires only a small external compressor. Researchers hope that

5936-606: The Greeks' understanding was limited to statics (the balance of forces) and did not include dynamics (the tradeoff between force and distance) or the concept of work . The earliest practical wind-powered machines, the windmill and wind pump , first appeared in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age , in what are now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, by the 9th century AD. The earliest practical steam-powered machine

6042-440: The HI-1 as a way to decipher the feeling of being in the presence of a human being. Another of Hiroshi Ishiguro's creations is the Geminoid F, a female android modeled after a woman in her twenties. The Geminoid F can show facial expressions, such as smiling or frowning, in a more natural looking way than Ishiguro's previous androids. This Geminoid is also controlled remotely by cameras with face-tracking software. The goal in making

6148-415: The HI-1 is to mimic the actions of a human. It cannot move by itself, but is instead remotely operated by Ishiguro. Ishiguro's voice is captured by a microphone while his facial movements are recorded by a camera. The HI-1 is able to imitate the actions made by the operator. When asked the purpose of a human-like robot, Ishiguro replied with "my research question is to know what is human." Ishiguro hopes to use

6254-524: The Muslim world. A music sequencer , a programmable musical instrument , was the earliest type of programmable machine. The first music sequencer was an automated flute player invented by the Banu Musa brothers, described in their Book of Ingenious Devices , in the 9th century. In 1206, Al-Jazari invented programmable automata / robots . He described four automaton musicians, including drummers operated by

6360-498: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ) found that across the 21 OECD countries, 9% of jobs are automatable. The Obama administration 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." A recent MIT economics study of automation in the U.S. from 1990 to 2007 found that there may be

6466-437: The Telenoid R1 to communicate with family who are not able to visit them personally. Research has shown that elderly people have reacted positively to interactions with the Telenoid R1. In experiments with the R1, the elderly have given feedback such as "very cute, like my grandchild" and "very soft and nice to touch." The Telenoid R1 uses DC motors as actuators and because of its smaller body, only uses 9. This helped to reduce

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6572-458: The Telenoid R1 to give their input into a conversation or meeting. Furthermore, entire meetings can be held through Telenoids so that workers never even have to leave their homes. One education application for the robot is teaching a language. Audio lessons can be programmed into the Telenoid R1 and used to teach people who would find it easier to learn from a human-like being rather than an audio tape. Elderly citizens in care homes are able to use

6678-401: The US and developed countries where technological advances contribute to higher demand for highly 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. Unemployment is becoming a problem in the U.S. due to

6784-443: The automated system, the more crucial the human contribution of the operators. Humans are less involved, but their involvement becomes more critical. Lisanne Bainbridge , a cognitive psychologist, identified these issues notably in her widely cited paper "Ironies of Automation." If an automated system has an error, it will multiply that error until it is fixed or shut down. This is where human operators come in. A fatal example of this

6890-409: The axle of a wheel. However, the wheel forms a lever that magnifies the pulling force so that it overcomes the frictional resistance in the bearing. The classification of simple machines to provide a strategy for the design of new machines was developed by Franz Reuleaux , who collected and studied over 800 elementary machines. He recognized that the classical simple machines can be separated into

6996-463: The ball and cock in a modern flush toilet. This was the earliest feedback-controlled mechanism. 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. Two-step level controls for fluids, a form of discontinuous variable structure controls , were developed by

7102-411: The bodies move in a way that the trajectories of points in the system lie on concentric spheres. The rotational axes of hinged joints that connect the bodies in the system pass through the center of these circle. A spatial mechanism is a mechanical system that has at least one body that moves in a way that its point trajectories are general space curves. The rotational axes of hinged joints that connect

7208-495: The cars' perceived threat to human safety and job prospects. 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 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 (AI) as

7314-411: The development and production costs for the automaton . A version of the robot used for research costs about $ 35,000 while a commercial version costs about $ 8,000. Hiroshi Ishiguro created an automaton with looks that reflect his own, the Geminoid HI-1. The materials for this robot include Ishiguro's own hair along with silicone rubber, pneumatic actuators , and various electronic parts. The purpose for

7420-571: The double acting steam engine practical. The Boulton and Watt steam engine and later designs powered steam locomotives , steam ships , and factories . The Industrial Revolution was a period from 1750 to 1850 where changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom , then subsequently spread throughout Western Europe , North America , Japan , and eventually

7526-419: 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 is often offset by jobs gained from technological advances, the same type of job loss is not the same one replaced and that leading to increasing unemployment in the lower-middle class. This occurs largely in

7632-429: 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 the control theory. In the 1940s and 1950s, German mathematician Irmgard Flügge-Lotz developed the theory of discontinuous automatic controls, which found military applications during

7738-422: The exponential growth rate of automation and technology. According to Kim, Kim, and Lee (2017:1), "[a] seminal study by Frey and Osborne in 2013 predicted that 47% of the 702 examined occupations in the U.S. faced a high risk of decreased employment rate within the next 10–25 years as a result of computerization." As many jobs are becoming obsolete, which is causing job displacement, one possible solution would be for

7844-449: The factory never reached full "lights out" status. The expansion of lights out manufacturing requires: 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 ,

7950-480: The first chemical plant to use digital control . Conversion of factories to digital control began to spread rapidly in the 1970s as the price of computer hardware fell. The automatic telephone switchboard was introduced in 1892 along with dial telephones. By 1929, 31.9% of the Bell system was automatic. Automatic telephone switching originally used vacuum tube amplifiers and electro-mechanical switches, which consumed

8056-523: 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. UBI, however, should be seen as

8162-403: 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 theory. The governor received relatively little scientific attention until James Clerk Maxwell published a paper that established the beginning of

8268-417: The lever, pulley and wheel and axle that are formed by a body rotating about a hinge, and the inclined plane, wedge and screw that are similarly a block sliding on a flat surface. Simple machines are elementary examples of kinematic chains or linkages that are used to model mechanical systems ranging from the steam engine to robot manipulators. The bearings that form the fulcrum of a lever and that allow

8374-529: The linear movement of the piston into rotation of the output pulley. Finally, the pulley rotation drives the flyball governor which controls the valve for the steam input to the piston cylinder. The adjective "mechanical" refers to skill in the practical application of an art or science, as well as relating to or caused by movement, physical forces, properties or agents such as is dealt with by mechanics . Similarly Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "mechanical" as relating to machinery or tools. Power flow through

8480-601: 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. Removal of these safety features reduces

8586-751: The mechanical advantage of the inclined plane, and it was included with the other simple machines. The complete dynamic theory of simple machines was worked out by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei in 1600 in Le Meccaniche ("On Mechanics"). He was the first to understand that simple machines do not create energy , they merely transform it. The classic rules of sliding friction in machines were discovered by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), but remained unpublished in his notebooks. They were rediscovered by Guillaume Amontons (1699) and were further developed by Charles-Augustin de Coulomb (1785). James Watt patented his parallel motion linkage in 1782, which made

8692-408: The movement. This amplification, or mechanical advantage is the ratio of the input speed to output speed. For a wedge this is given by 1/tanα, where α is the tip angle. The faces of a wedge are modeled as straight lines to form a sliding or prismatic joint . Lever: The lever is another important and simple device for managing power. This is a body that pivots on a fulcrum. Because the velocity of

8798-419: The output of one crank to the input of another. Additional links can be attached to form a six-bar linkage or in series to form a robot. A mechanical system manages power to accomplish a task that involves forces and movement. Modern machines are systems consisting of (i) a power source and actuators that generate forces and movement, (ii) a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve

8904-403: The primary elements of a machine. Starting with four types of joints, the rotary joint, sliding joint, cam joint and gear joint, and related connections such as cables and belts, it is possible to understand a machine as an assembly of solid parts that connect these joints called a mechanism . Two levers, or cranks, are combined into a planar four-bar linkage by attaching a link that connects

9010-467: The rest of the world. Starting in the later part of the 18th century, there began a transition in parts of Great Britain 's previously manual labour and draft-animal-based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal . The idea that a machine can be decomposed into simple movable elements led Archimedes to define

9116-410: The resurgence of nationalist , protectionist and populist politics in the US, UK and France, among other countries since the 2010s. 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

9222-567: The smart home's ability to monitor and adjust consumption levels would reduce unnecessary energy usage. However, some 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 do decrease unnecessary energy use, this process requires monitoring systems that also consume an amount of energy. The energy required to run these systems sometimes negates their benefits, resulting in little to no ecological benefit. Another major shift in automation

9328-437: 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

9434-713: 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. The main advantages of automation are: Automation primarily describes machines replacing human action, but it

9540-551: 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. According to a 2020 study in the Journal of Political Economy , automation has robust negative effects on employment and wages: "One more robot per thousand workers reduces the employment-to-population ratio by 0.2 percentage points and wages by 0.42%." Research by Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne of

9646-526: The use of humans is more cost-effective than mechanical approaches even where the automation of industrial tasks is possible. Therefore, algorithmic management as the digital rationalization of human labor instead of its substitution has emerged as an alternative technological strategy. Overcoming these obstacles is a theorized path to post-scarcity economics. Increased automation often causes workers to feel anxious about losing their jobs as technology renders their skills or experience unnecessary. Early in

9752-494: The use of various equipment and control systems such as machinery , processes in factories , boilers , and heat-treating ovens , switching on telephone networks , steering , stabilization of ships , aircraft and other applications and vehicles with reduced human intervention. Examples range from a household thermostat controlling a boiler to a large industrial control system with tens of thousands of input measurements and output control signals. Automation has also found

9858-478: The weight of the vehicle, and coupled with more precise acceleration and braking, as well as fuel-efficient route mapping, can increase fuel economy and reduce emissions. Despite this, some researchers theorize that an increase in the production of self-driving cars could lead to a boom in vehicle ownership and usage, which could potentially negate any environmental benefits of self-driving cars if they are used more frequently. Automation of homes and home appliances

9964-399: The wheel and axle and pulleys to rotate are examples of a kinematic pair called a hinged joint. Similarly, the flat surface of an inclined plane and wedge are examples of the kinematic pair called a sliding joint. The screw is usually identified as its own kinematic pair called a helical joint. This realization shows that it is the joints, or the connections that provide movement, that are

10070-489: The word automation, describing mostly manufacturing processes. It was during this time that the industry was rapidly adopting feedback controllers , which were introduced in the 1930s. The World Bank 's World Development Report of 2019 shows evidence that the new industries and jobs in the technology sector outweigh the economic effects of workers being displaced by automation. Job losses and downward mobility blamed on automation have been cited as one of many factors in

10176-628: Was Air France Flight 447 , where a failure of automation put the pilots into a manual situation they were not prepared for. 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,

10282-675: Was a steam jack driven by a steam turbine , described in 1551 by Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf in Ottoman Egypt . The cotton gin was invented in India by the 6th century AD, and the spinning wheel was invented in the Islamic world by the early 11th century, both of which were fundamental to the growth of the cotton industry . The spinning wheel was also a precursor to the spinning jenny . The earliest programmable machines were developed in

10388-613: Was applied to milling grain, and powering lumber, machining and textile operations . Modern water turbines use water flowing through a dam to drive an electric generator . Windmill: Early windmills captured wind power to generate rotary motion for milling operations. Modern wind turbines also drives a generator. This electricity in turn is used to drive motors forming the actuators of mechanical systems. Engine: The word engine derives from "ingenuity" and originally referred to contrivances that may or may not be physical devices. A steam engine uses heat to boil water contained in

10494-419: Was developed by Oliver Evans in 1785, making it the first completely automated industrial process. A centrifugal governor was used by Mr. Bunce of England in 1784 as part of a model steam crane . 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 building. The governor could not actually hold

10600-1257: Was greatly increased by electrification in the 1920s. U.S. manufacturing productivity growth fell from 5.2%/yr 1919–29 to 2.76%/yr 1929–41. Alexander Field notes that spending on non-medical instruments increased significantly from 1929 to 1933 and remained strong thereafter. 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 (1941). Starting in 1958, various systems based on solid-state 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  [ de ] Norbit , BBC Sigmatronic , ACEC Logacec , Akkord  [ de ] Estacord , Krone Mibakron, Bistat, Datapac, Norlog, SSR, or Procontic systems. In 1959 Texaco 's Port Arthur Refinery became

10706-489: Was invented by Christiaan Huygens in the seventeenth century, and used to adjust the gap between millstones . 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

10812-549: Was on a paper machine in 1919. One of the most important developments in the steel industry during the 20th century was continuous wide strip rolling, developed by Armco in 1928. 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 . Self-acting machine tools that displaced hand dexterity so they could be operated by boys and unskilled laborers were developed by James Nasmyth in

10918-421: 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 hard-wiring. Mechanical system A machine

11024-451: Was the inclined plane (ramp), which has been used since prehistoric times to move heavy objects. The other four simple machines were invented in the ancient Near East . The wheel , along with the wheel and axle mechanism, was invented in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) during the 5th millennium BC. The lever mechanism first appeared around 5,000 years ago in the Near East , where it

11130-485: Was used in a simple balance scale , and to move large objects in ancient Egyptian technology . The lever was also used in the shadoof water-lifting device, the first crane machine, which appeared in Mesopotamia c.  3000 BC , and then in ancient Egyptian technology c.  2000 BC . The earliest evidence of pulleys date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium BC, and ancient Egypt during

11236-405: Was used to tent the sails of windmills. It was patented by Edmund Lee in 1745. Also in 1745, Jacques de Vaucanson invented the first automated loom. Around 1800, Joseph Marie Jacquard created a punch-card system to program looms. In 1771 Richard Arkwright invented the first fully automated spinning mill driven by water power, known at the time as the water frame . An automatic flour mill

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