Engineering sciences, like the arts, social sciences and natural sciences, are a discrete discipline with their own language, practices and tools. Of course they also draw on and use principles from other sciences, in particular mathematics and physics but also social sciences. In turn, many of the findings in these latter disciplines are based on the results of research carried out in the field of engineering sciences.

Examples of engineering-related sciences include: • mechanical engineering, • electrical engineering, • production engineering, • structural engineering, • and so on.

The purpose of sensors is to acquire information and to forward it in an evaluable format to the signal processing system. They are found in diverse tasks in technology, with different designs and operating principles. That is why it is important to categorise them. Sensors can be classified according to • operating principle (optical, inductive, mechanical, fluid, etc.), • measured variable (displacement, pressure, distance, temperature, ph value, luminous intensity, presence of objects, etc.) or • output signal (analogue, digital, binary, etc.), to name just a few methods.

The term pneumatics comes from the Greek work "pneuma", meaning wind or breath. It refers to the use of compressed air or systems driven by compressed air in an engineering application. A modern pneumatic system in automation technology consists of subsystems for: • generating and providing the compressed air (compressors, radiators, filters), • distributing the compressed air (ducts, pneumatic tubing, coupling pieces), • controlling the compressed air (pressure regulators, directional control valves, stop valves), • performing work using the compressed air (cylinders, rotary drives).