Unit III. Computer systems and information technologies Step 1. Automation in human activities

Task 1. Learn the following words and word combinations.

Industrial revolution – промышленная революция

machinery – оборудование

to replace – заменять

to reduce – сокращать, ослаблять, уменьшать

to strive – стремиться

to invent – изобретать

precision – точность

pattern recognition – распознавание образа

language recognition – распознавание языка

input/output – ввод-вывод (термин обозначает как подсистему ввода-вывода компьютера, так и любые операции пересылки данных между процессором или оперативной памятью и внешними устройствами)

programmable logic controller (PLC) – программируемое логическое устройство управления; программируемый логический контроллер (ПЛК)

human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI) – человеко-машинный интерфейс

script – сценарий, скрипт последовательность команд и/или действий, небольшая программа или макрос, исполняемые приложением или ОС при конкретных обстоятельствах, например, при регистрации пользователя в системе.

to accomplish – выполнять

to manage – управлять, координировать

by means of – посредством

actuator – привод, исполнительный механизм

event – событие: а) возникновение или завершение в системе некоторого действия, например, перемещение мыши, нажатие клавиши. Для управления событиями используются различные механизмы, такие как флаги, прерывания, семафоры, сообщения;

б) состояние или происшествие в сети, системе или приложении, информация о котором должна быть сообщена пользователю или записана в журнал (database event, event alerts, event handler, event trigger, flag, hardware event, message, periodic event, semaphore).

Task 2. Read and translate the text.

Automation in human activities

Automation, robotization or industrial automation or numerical control is the use of control systems such as computers to control industrial machinery and processes, replacing human operators. In the scope of industrialization, it is a step beyond mechanization. Whereas mechanization provided human operators with machinery to assist them with the physical requirements of work, automation greatly reduces the need for human sensory and mental requirements as well.

Automation plays an increasingly important role in the global economy and in daily experience. Engineers strive to combine automated devices with mathematical and organizational tools to create complex systems for a rapidly expanding range of applications and human activities.

There are still many jobs which are in no immediate danger of automation. No device has been invented which can match the human eye for accuracy and precision in many tasks; nor the human ear. Even the admittedly handicapped human is able to identify and distinguish among far more scents than any automated device. Human pattern recognition, language recognition, and language production ability is well beyond anything currently envisioned by automation engineers.

Specialized hardened computers, referred to as programmable logic controllers (PLCs), are frequently used to synchronize the flow of inputs from (physical) sensors and events with the flow of outputs to actuators and events. This leads to precisely controlled actions that permit a tight control of almost any industrial process.

Human-machine interfaces (HMI) or computer human interfaces (CHI), formerly known as man-machine interfaces, are usually employed to communicate with PLCs and other computers, such as entering and monitoring temperatures or pressures for further automated control or emergency response. Service personnel who monitor and control these interfaces are often referred to as stationary engineers.

A separate form of automation involving computers is test automation, where computer-controlled automated test equipment is programmed to simulate human testers in manually testing an application. This is often accomplished by using test automation tools to generate special scripts written as computer programs that direct the automated test equipment in exactly what to do in order to accomplish the tests.

Another separate field of automation is home automation. This type of automation emerged in the early 1990s. This type of automation is concerned with the controls of everything in a house, from lights and blinds through security and access system to heating, cooling, water supply and home heater systems. A whole house system will gather and integrate all of these separate subsystems into one integrated system that can be managed from a central display panel, a remote control or even over the Internet from a another physical location.

A more common form of automation is more related to office automation is software-automation, where a computer by means of macro recorder software records the sequence of user actions (mouse and keyboard) as a macro for playback at a later time.

Task 3. Match the English equivalents with the Russian ones:

1. numerical control a. устройство

2. industrial machinery b. давление

3. application c. воспроизведение

4. device d. точность

5. precision e. числовое программное управление

6. identify f. применение

7. pressure g. система доступа

8. test equipment h. испытательное оборудование

9. access system i. промышленное оборудование

10. playback j. распознать

Task 4. Match the words with their definitions:

1. remote control a. to observe or record (the activity or performance)

of (an engine or other device)

2. global b. to conclude successfully; complete

3. manual c. to make or be made into a whole

4. to monitor d. control of a system or activity by a person at a

different place, usually by means of radio or

ultrasonic signals or by electrical signals

transmitted by wire

5. to assist e. the data or information that is passed into or out

of a computer

6. input/output f. to give help or support

7. to accomplish d. covering, influencing, or relating to the whole

world

8. to integrate g. operated or done by hand

Task 5. Give the English equivalents to the following using the text.

1. деятельность человека;

2. создавать сложные системы;

3. жесткий контроль;

4. прежде известный как;

5. строго контролируемые действия;

6. немедленное (аварийное) реагирование;

7. быстро расширяющийся круг;

8. общеизвестно;

9. обслуживающий персонал.

Task 6. Answer the questions.

1. What is automation?

2. What is the difference between mechanization and automation?

3. Does automation play any role in global economy?

4. Why are there many jobs which are in no immediate danger of automation?

5. What are programmable logic controllers used for?

6. What are the duties of a stationary engineer?

7. What forms of automation are described in the text?

Task 7. Using the text explain the meaning of the following terms:

1. programmable logic controller;

2. human-machine interface, computer human interface, man-machine interface;

3. test automation;

4. home automation.

Task 8. Retell the text using your active vocabulary.