BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

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SERVO-MECHANISM 5)

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A device that consists of a sensor, an amplifier and a motor and is used to maintain the steadiness of the mechanical device of which it is a part.

A servo-mechanism is in fact a 2 level feedback applied in specific ways in accordance with the permanent nature and function of the regulated system

The servo-mechanisms are needed to regulate the regulating (or control) subsystem's variables in order to adapt them to the changing environmental conditions.

J. MILSUM writes: "… the output is required to follow or "track" slavishly an often-varying desired, reference or command input" (1968, p.43).

Examples are"… power steering of cars,… or neuro-muscular systems used for positioning of limbs, eyes, etc." (Ibid, p.42).

The study of servo-machanisms is interesting in relation to the behavior of living systems. According to G. SOMMERHOFF: "… since many servo-mechanisms produce some type of goal-directed behavior it is not surprising that some of the general concepts of servo theory can illuminate parallel forms of goal-directed behavior in living systems – concepts like error control and feedback loops, for instance. But there are many limits to this. The goal of the activity of a servo-mechanism is set by an external command. This command provides the reference signal from which the error signals are derived to which the feedback mechanism responds with the necessary corrections" (1969, p.153). Moreover, as noticed also by SOMMERHOFF, in biological (and social?) systems, the commands are integrated in a hierarchy of oriented behaviors. And still: "… the concept of error signal is also beset with difficulties… in such goal-directed processes as embryonic growth, maturation, learning, evolution, etc… – or even in such simple cases as a rat taking the correct turning at a choice point of a maze" (Ibid.).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

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Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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