Advanced Robotics, Mechatronics and Artificial Intelligence

Instrumentation, Control, and Automation

It is the art and science of measurement and control of process variables within a production, laboratory, or manufacturing area.An instrument is a device that measures a physical quantity such as flow, temperature, level, distance, angle, or pressure. Instruments may be as simple as direct reading thermometers or may be complex multi-variable process analyzers. Instruments are often part of a control system in refineries, factories, and vehicles.

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 and vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have been completely automated.

Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic devices and computers, usually in combination