Automation is coming, automation is becoming widespread, we start to hear the words as if everything will be great thanks to automation, especially after the 2000s. With the development of information technologies, it was thought that the automation process would be used more in this area. But when we look back What is automation? We can see that the answer comes from hundreds of years ago.

What is automation? To answer the question, we can give a simple answer by looking at today’s systems. However, when looking deeper, it can be said that automation technology is almost as old as the human production process. With the light we get from the past What is automation? Let’s take a closer look and see through examples how it has changed our world from past to present.

What is automation?

Automation in its simplest definition; various goods and services production and post production is the development and use of special technologies to control and monitor. In other words, automation is a technology that can be applied in any period and sector where people produce a good or service. Of course, the applied technology is developed within the conditions of the period.

Today, we are evaluating the concept of automation through artificial intelligence, machine learning devices, and even robots. because circumstances of our time creates such needs. But in the past, automation was used even in small workshops and factories with such limited production that it seems funny today.

The first traces of automation as we know it today are found in ancient Greece:

Written by Homer, the master of ancient Greek poetry, it is described by some as a poem and by others as an epic. In a story told in the Iliad It is possible to find the first traces of the history of automation. Automation features in a story set in 762 BC, where Homer often mentions Hephaestus, the god of fire and crafts.

The story is about a workshop where Hephaestus made powerful weapons for the Greek gods. Developed to help Hephaestus in this workshop, There are some robots that we can call automatons. Although Hephaestus designed these automata to do what he wanted, they are said to have intelligence of their own and so they often argued with Hephaestus.

We don’t have enough evidence that the workshop in this story, which can even be associated with the lost continent of Mu or Atlantis, actually existed. In short, the Iliad is a fictional work. However, inventing machines that will make people’s work easier, even in a fictional work written hundreds of years ago, can be seen as the first steps of automation technology.

Automation, which made its real debut with the industrial revolution, is slowly starting to change society in just one region:

What is known about the past of automation is not based solely on Homer’s Iliad. for miners in the 11th century and Known as developed for workers in the 17th century and many different automation technologies are known to be produced with the aim of reducing the burden on workers. In fact, researchers have a lot of evidence on this topic. However, we can say that automation literally started with the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution, also called the Industrial Revolution; In the 18th century, it replaced human power, which began in England and throughout Europe. steam powered machines It is the beginning of the production process. The replacement of human power by machines is a unique opportunity for the rise of automation.

With the Industrial Revolution, some special machines were developed to meet the increasing demand for paper, cotton and similar products and to make the production process more efficient. even today one of the indispensable tools of the cotton industry The invention of the gin, one of them, dates back to the industrial revolution. Like the gin, the Fourdrinier machine, which speeds up paper production with special paper layers, is one of the automation products invented during the same period.

automation products, speed up the production process of a product with increasing demand have been developed for this. With the increase in the need for cotton fabric, the cotton gin machine was developed, and with the increase in the need for paper, the paper sheet machine was developed. During the development process, these machines become; They were made much more efficient by working with steam, water and coal.

A Ford engineer becomes the first to conceptualize automation:

Of course, the ancient Greeks or factory workers did not talk about the development of automation products in everyday conversation. The concept of automation and used as we know it now, surprise no one, it started with an engineer from Ford Motor Company.

With the great advancements in transportation and communications in the 1940s, individual vehicles, called automobiles, had to become widespread. The inventors who laid the foundation for today’s automotive industry from the engineers at Ford Motor Company DS Harder; He introduced the concept of automation in 1946 and took the first steps in automation as we know it today. The origin of the word is also based on the developments during this period.

What is automation in today’s world, will robots come?

Especially after the Second World War, automation systems around the world are at least with established technologies in heavy industry We can say they are. The machines we used to fear and say is the work of the devil are now used in even the smallest manufacturing workshop. Of course, developments in these sectors continue, but humanity has now turned its eyes to information technologies.

All sectors as we know them are now mixed with information technologies and the use of automation products. they want to be made unmanned. In today’s world, automation technologies strive for maximum efficiency with minimum manpower. So yes, robots are the future and they will be all about industrial automation technologies. Perhaps the products produced with the physical strength of thousands of people can be easily made with an artificial intelligence automation technology.

Unemployment increase associated with automation:

The main goal of automation is to reduce the workload for employees. However, automation reduces the workload for employees to such an extent that there is no longer a problem human workers will not be needed. This situation is a major pressure factor around the world, especially on the workers.

With the spread of automation, unemployment is expected to increase. In the reformed world, however, business lines will also take shape. eg; workers no longer work in machine production, but in the delivery process. However, this situation affects the workers who earn their living from physical strength. will have a negative impact and it is a predicted fact that many people will lose their jobs.

For you what is automation? We answered the question and from yesterday to today some examples from his hundreds of years of adventure we gave The world is changing and developing faster than ever before. It is necessary to conduct more planned studies on this topic so that the segments that somehow cannot keep up with this process do not become victims. Or robots can take over the world.