Automation
What is automation?
First of all, let’s look up the wikipedia. Find out what is “automation”
Automation or automatic control, is the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories, boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other applications with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have been completely automated.
It looks like automation is a very high end tech stuff, doesn’t it?
Volkswagen spent tons of money on building its assembly line, they must have hired lots of brilliant scientists. It’s cost a fortune.
But have you ever thought about these questions:
Is it really so complicated?
Is it only the scientists’ business?
Why is it so important for everyone, even for ordinary people?
Everyone can build a automatic system
Scientists are insanely brilliant. They may invent some incredible things. But that doesn’t mean it’s complicated.
I’m going to take the ancient public water supply system for example.
A long time ago, we had to walk miles to find drinking water: a river or a lake. Thank god! We found one, and a community was built along the water resource. And the community started growing.
Everyday morning, our dear ancestors walked to the river, drink water. This might have took them hours. It would be longer if they wanted to carry bottles of water for their elders who could not walk. (Actually, this’s stilling happening right now somewhere on the earth.) Sometimes they carry water for irrigation as well.
It’s obvious that carrying water is a tough work. Thus people decided to pay people to carry water for them. This’s not automation but we changed our life. To those people who were not wealthy, they were trying to change their life different way.
As we all know, if you remove the dirts from the river side, water will fill in. Why don’t we keeping digging till the river reaches our home? What a simple but brilliant idea! Then those “poor people” started building canals. By the way, the word canal might not exist at that moment.
The above picture shows some canal diggers building a wide canal. In Dali, which is a small town in China, they built a narrower canal. This canal passes through the main area of Dali. Everyone can get water without going too far.
Look! This is true automation! It’s not as convenience as tap water but it’s a much more important invention without using high-tech. We just used some common sense. Theoretically, everyone can build a canal - a true and useful automatic system.
We need high-techs to be more efficient but it’s not necessary to build a automatic system.
Automation changes our life in many ways
As the wikipedia says, many things are using automation everyday.
I’ve got to say, people are lazy. Since that, we’ve created lots of things to get rid of works. Google’s self-driving car might be one of the most forward-looking projects to help lazy guys.
You probably don’t concern things like a self-driving car. But you definitely have used a timer or a alarm.
You can easily set a timer on google or your iPhone by typing or clicking several keys.
Timers could help you with concentrating on one task when you have another task to do after a period of time. You need not check out the time repeatedly. The timer will handle that for you automatically. That helps me a lot.
You’re using automation everyday, you just haven’t realized that.
Basically it changes our life by speeding your work up(Excel), giving a stable outcome(Tap system: 99% works) and saving more strength(email spam filter).
##Get started using automation
Just take a look around you, you’ll find a plenty of things related to automation: e-mail filters, alarms, electric cookers etc. You don’t actually need to invent one, just buy one or get started using them.
I think we should get used to seeking tools, best practices and new lifestyles. The principle is quite simple: if you realize you’re doing one thing repeatedly, then get started finding out an approach to do it automatically.
We use e-mail filters to organize or classify mails instead of repeatedly moving them.
We permit web browsers to save your passwords instead of repeatedly remembering new passwords.
We pre-set our bank card number shortcut on iPhone. When I need to repeatedly fill out forms, I just type something like “bcn”, it completes the rest automatically.
We invented these tools cuz someone found out they’re repeatedly doing things. Fortunately we can do the same thing without inventing tools. Those tools are already there and out-of-the-box. Google and your friends would be your best resources to learn these tools.
Invent a brand-new automatic system
We cannot always find a perfect tool to implement our plan. If you’re happen to be an engineer, why don’t you build one?
For software engineers, these tools might help:
- shell
- python
- sendwithus
- Projects on github
I’ve heard of a lot of stories about someone got rich by inventing a small but useful tool. Don’t miss that chance if you have a idea even it’s too plain.
##Finally
Automation is an extraordinary system. Building an automatic system is a remarkable work but using automatic systems is also a great evolution.
So stop doing your boring work, start thinking what you’re doing is repeated.
