Department of Automation Science and Technology (DAST) originated from the automation department of Central South Mining and Metallurgy College established in 1970.

At present, DAST is mainly responsible for the construction and talent cultivating of the automation major and has the national key subjects "Control Theory and Control Engineering". Meanwhile, DAST possess several scientific research innovation teams and platforms, including Innovation Research Group of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Innovation Team of "Program for Chang jiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University" of ministry of education, Non-ferrous Metallurgical Automation Engineering Research Center of ministry of education, Advanced Control and Intelligent Automation Engineering Laboratory of Hunan province.

Research direction of the DAST covers Modeling and Scheduling Optimization Control Theory, Complex Manufacturing System, System Simulation and Virtual Manufacturing, Intelligent Manufacturing, Intelligent sensing Technology, Industrial Big Data Analytics, Modern Logistics and Electronic Commerce, Management and Decision-making System, The Modeling Analysis and Optimization of The Network System, The Description of Complex Systems and Control, Information Processing, Pattern Recognition, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Sensor Network, Intelligent Environment, The Movement of Body Precise Guidance and Control, Process Control and System Engineering and Motion Control and Power Electronic Technology, etc.