industrial automation matters.Over 200 years ago, in the early 1800s, a series of riots erupted in northern England. Weavers and textile workers in Nottingham and other towns, concerned about the effect that introducing mechanized looms and knitting machines would have on their livelihoods, began smashing up the machines. The Luddites, as they were known, clashed with the British Army on several occasions before the movement came to an end.