It all started with the wheel. Moving things, and ourselves, across distances became easier and more efficient with the wheel. Over the centuries, we progressed from carts we pushed ourselves to wagons pulled by animals we domesticated and trained.
Then came the engine, perhaps one of the first instances of automation. The engine replaced the manual labor of humans and animals. Steam and coal-fired engines powered railroads that eventually crisscrossed the United States and with the advent of the combustion engine came the horseless carriage, the “auto”mobile.