Britannica
Sources used in this answer
- human-factors engineering - The human-factors approach to design
- complexity - The science of complexity
- human-factors engineering - A human-machine example
- human-factors engineering - The human-machine model
- control theory - Control of machines
- control system - Modern control practices.
- automation - Machine programming
Why are human judgment and decision making important in some control systems?
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In systems engineering, human judgment and decision-making remain vital because theoretical automatic control methods are not yet sufficiently advanced to design systems that can completely predict or manage every potential effect, particularly in large, highly interconnected industrial environments.1
Human intervention is essential for several reasons:
- Handling Unforeseen Conditions: When systems encounter malfunctions or off-normal conditions that fall outside programmed parameters, human operators are often required to manually adjust operational devices to maintain control.1
- System Limitations: In many complex scenarios, automatic systems lack the ability to extrapolate from past experiences to solve novel problemsāa core human ability known as information processing.2
- Safety and Optimization: While there is a trend toward enabling systems to perform error detection and recovery and safety monitoring, human oversight is still critical for managing complex hazards and making high-level decisions that balance economic performance with safety.13
Ultimately, while automation can handle repetitive tasks, humans provide the necessary flexibility to interpret complex data and intervene when a systemās preselected rules are inadequate.413