Device used to correct the performance of a mechanism automatically, by means of error-sensing feedback.
The term properly applies only to systems in which the feedback and error-correction signals control mechanical position or velocity. Servomechanisms were first used in military and marine navigation equipment. Today they are used in automatic machine tools, satellite-tracking antennas, celestial-tracking systems on telescopes, automatic navigation systems, and antiaircraft-gun control systems. The design of servomechanisms is considered to be a branch of both robotics and cybernetics .