With an objective of complete autonomy, total automation technology tries to maintain a target system under complete control. This is necessary to attain specific operating conditions that are needed in truly dependable systems in many situations. Think for example in nuclear power plants, life support systems, extra-planetary vehicles, etc.

Traditional control technologies are adequate for control purposes in predefined operation conditions. Some approaches to control systems try to enhance control system behaviour in uncertain situations (adaptive, robust, stochastic control, etc.). Uncertainty comes from the outer environment through imperfect perception, from the inner environment or even from the knowledge used to perform control or the controller itself.

Controlled systems, environments and control implementations are complex in almost all real situations worth mentioning. Human-based supervisory control systems are the common way to increase the percentage of plant operating time.

Buthumans fail; in some cases they are even not present. An a big question arises: What can we do to increase the degree of autonomy of the machines?

The answer is clear: better controli.e. more intelligence i.e more understanding of what's going on.

Intelligence is just having better control for bodies. Look at the following definition from a well known dictionary:

in.tel.li.gence n

[ME, fr. MF, fr. L intelligentia, fr. intelligent-, intelligens intelligent] (14c) 1 a (1): the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations: reason; also: the skilled use of reason (2): the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria.

intelligence
= deal properly with new situations
= autonomous control

Intelligent autonomous systems have minds that are Complex Control Systems.