Automation

Robots are cool.

Why are Robots cool? There are many reasons that this phrase may resonate with people. They look cool, they remind them of something cool, they represent something cool, etc.

One of those reason, at least to me, is that they do thing by themselves. They do things automatically. The idea that there could be something that we created that acts as if it has a free will is both sobering and exciting!

What does it mean to have something work automatically though? After searching around I found some definitions from the Merriam Webster Dictionary:

Automation is defined as:

1: The technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically

2: The state of being operated automatically

3: Automatically controlled operation of an apparatus, process, or system by mechanical or electronic devices that take the place of human labor

These definitions leave something to be desired. Why do they define automation using the term automatic? That is analogous to saying a dog is something that acts like a dog. That’s just silly! You’d have to know how a dog acts in order to define what a dog is, but you don’t know how a dog acts until something you know to be defined as a dog acts, but you’d need to know how it acts in order to…Can you spot the circle? This is referred to as circular reasoning in the field of philosophy and it’s quite fascinating topic, but not the focus of this article.

I found another definition in the engineering world that states:

Automation is the application of technology, programs, robotics or processes to achieve outcomes with minimal human input.

This is better! It doesn’t have the circular problem from the previous definitions. However, this one still leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Particularly the use of the phrase minimal human interaction. This is not the spirit of automation. Automation seeks to remove the human element from tasks. Minimal makes it sound like human input and corrects are needed during the process.

Thus I propose my own definition of automation:

Automation is turning tasks into flow charts or decision trees that move from input to output with NO human interactions.

Automation may have began with single minded, binary tasks that could be performed by mechanical machines, but we’ve come a long way since then. We now live in the age where computers can accept if/else statements to move along flow charts. They can read an input and begin from several different starting points based on what words the input includes. I believe that the goal of automation should be to completely remove the human element from a task. Only then can the task be considered to be automated.

Let me know what you think of my definition and any counter examples you can think of!