Modern Practice
Much equipment which for most of the 20th century would have used electromechanical devices for control, beginning from the last third of the century have come to use less expensive and more reliable integrated microcontroller circuits containing ultimately a few million transistors and a program to carry out the same task through logic, with electromechanical components only where moving parts, such as mechanical electric actuators, are a requirement. Such chips have replaced most electromechanical devices, are used in most simple feedback control systems, and appear in huge numbers in everything from traffic lights to washing machines.
Read more about this topic: Electromechanics
Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or practice:
“We could hardly believe that after so many ordeals, after all the trials of modern skepticism, there was still so much left in our souls to destroy.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“It is not always possible to predict the response of a doting Jewish mother. Witness the occasion on which the late piano virtuoso Oscar Levant telephoned his mother with some important news. He had proposed to his beloved and been accepted. Replied Mother Levant: “Good, Oscar, I’m happy to hear it. But did you practice today?””
—Liz Smith (20th century)