automation

These tiny robotic arms are being used in a genetic-engineering laboratory. Here, safety precautions are very strict and any possible contamination must be avoided. Much larger robotic arms are employed in factories, replacing the human workforce in repetitive tasks such as spot-welding and fixing screws.

Widespread use of self-regulating machines in industry. Automation involves the addition of control devices, using electronic sensing and computing techniques, which often follow the pattern of human nervous and brain functions, to already mechanized physical processes of production and distribution; for example, steel processing, mining, chemical production, and road, rail, and air control.