Quotes: Automation

1. A system in which a workplace or process has been converted to one that replaces or minimizes human labor with mechanical or electronic equipment.
2. A mechanical device, operated electronically, and which functions automatically, without continuous input from an operator.
3. The act of automating something, or the state of being automated.

This word was coined in 1936 by D.S. Harder, a Generl Motors employee, but it didn't come into popular use until around the 1950s. Harder defined automation as the "automatic handling of parts between progressive production processes," but one of the current definitions is "the technique or system of operating a mechanical or productive device by highly automatic means, as by electronic devices"; as well as, those shown above.

Based on information from Word and Phrase Origins

Relating to or characteristic of a robot.

The use of robotic devices are expected to continue to spread into offices and homes, as older appliances are replaces with newer robotic equivalents. Domestic robots capable of performing many household tasks, described in science fiction stories and coveted by the public in the 1960s, are likely to be perfected in actuality.

It is anticipated that some degree of convergence between humans and robots will become a reality. Some humans already have artificial body parts and even parts of the nervous system replaced by artificial analogues; such as, pacemakers. In many cases the same technology might be used both in robotics and in medicine.

So it is that in medicine, a robotic tool is an automatic mechanical device designed to duplicate a human function without direct human operation.

1. The science or study of the technology associated with the design, fabrication, theory, and application of robots.
2. The use of computer-controlled robots to perform manual tasks; especially, on an assembly line.

1. The use of a machine that looks like a human being and performs various complex acts (as walking or talking) of a human being.
2. Using a similar but fictional machine whose lack of capacity for human emotions is often emphasized; such as, an efficient insensitive person who functions automatically.
3. Utilizing a device that automatically performs complicated often repetitive tasks or a mechanism guided by automatic controls.