The control challenge in designing machines without supervision
Automation is expected to be a sort of stand-in for humans in the case of interaction with machines. Herein lies a contradiction. In Chapter 7, The Interplay of Humans-Machines-Automation, we discussed the topic of how humans interact with machines and automation forms a bridge to make this interaction comfortable.
As a recap, these are areas where humans typically interact with machines:
- Monitoring operations while in normal mode
- Design and prototype testing
- Repairs or updates
- Procurement and coordination
Automation plays a role at each stage, by providing a window into the process through Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs), using warning lamps, and so on. A typical tower lamp is shown in Figure 8.2:
Figure 8.2 – An automotive line with two tower lamps for machine running (orange) and a machine error (red)
There are different types of tower lamps—four...
