> Sure, there are autonomous machines all around us. I don't think that
> designing or programming them requires a vast amount of technical
> knowledge - just extensive testing and experimentation.

That's a very bad way to design products, it's expensive and time 
consuming, and liable to create a product with lots of bugs you don't 
find until they're out in the field. Far better to get people with vast 
technical knowledge to properly design the product in the first place, 
the actual product testing should just be a formality, not a tool to 
find the best design.

But don't worry, you're not alone in underestimating the amount of 
design work that goes into everyday products. Once you've been to a few 
conferences on design and simulation software you realise that nothing 
is just designed by trial and error. For example even the part of your 
dishwasher that contains the salt to soften the water has been carefully 
studied, designed and simulated to minimise salt use, pressure drop and 
material costs. Certainly some person didn't just draw it out and say 
"that'll work, let's test it" and then maybe make a couple of tweaks. 
You wouldn't survive 5 minutes if your company worked like that.

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