New Book on Automation

Publisher: InTech Publication
Year: 2012 Pages: 548 pages
ISBN: 978-953-51-0685-2

The following is the PREFACE written by Dr. Florian Kongoli:

Preface

Automation is closely related to the modern need for sustainable development in the 21st century. One of the principles of sustainability is "Doing More with Less" which in other words, is also one of the goals of automation. By replacing the routine part of human labor with the use of machines, automation not only increases productivity and the quality of products beyond what can be achieved by humans but also frees space, time and energy for humans to deal with the new, non-routine challenge of developing innovative and more advanced technologies. This magnificent cycle in which established developments are automated and the free resources achieved by this automation are used to develop newer technologies that are subsequently automated is one of the most successful recipes for the human race towards the goal of sustainable development.

Automation as a new discipline emerged in the second half of the 20^th century and quickly attracted some of the brightest scientists in the world. Although in the beginning its theory and industrial applications were mostly in the electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic fields, the computer revolution has made possible the "invasion" of automation in all fields of life without exception. This phenomenon has perpetuated itself by such a degree that today computerization and automation can hardly be clearly distinguished from one another. This is also reflected in the contents of this book where interesting contributions cover various fields of technical as well as social sciences. At first sight it seems that the chapters of the book have nothing in common since they cover different fields and are directed only to specialists in their respective domains. In fact, they are bound together by the need for automation in the various routine aspects of our lives and it is here where the overlapping interest of the reader is expected. In order to facilitate and encourage broad interest from scientists of various fields, each chapter starts similarly with a plain and simple description of the related scientific field where automation is applied, a short review of previous achievements, and a capsule detailing what the new developments are.

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Dr. Florian Kongoli, BSc (Honors), MASc, PhD,
MTMS, MGDMB, MCIM, MSME, MAIST,MISIJ,
MSigmaXi, MIFAC, MACS, MASM, MMRS, MACerS, MECS
Executive President (CEO), FLOGEN Technologies Inc.
Chairman, FLOGEN Star OUTREACH