The term automation originated during the 1950s to refer to automatic control of the manufacture of a product through a number of successive stages. It subsequently was expanded to mean the application of automatic control through the use of electronic or mechanical devices to replace human labor in any branch of industry or science. Replacing physical labor was of principal concern decades ago, but today, at least in the developed nations, the goal is to replace mental labor. Computers and the accompanying sensors that interpret inputs, record data, make decisions, or generate displays to give warnings or advice to humans are now also regarded as automation, though in the strict sense none of these latter functions may be complete automatic control.