Founded in November 2018, the School of Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing of Southern University of Science and Technology (formerly known as the School of System Design and Intelligent Manufacturing) is one of the important platforms for SUSTech to explore and apply new engineering education concepts. Since January 2023, the automation discipline has been officially merged into the college. The college closely focuses on the major strategic needs of the country and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in automation-related fields, focusing on the development of advanced control theory and application, artificial intelligence and robotics, intelligent manufacturing and other characteristic advantageous disciplines. It is committed to exploring the international training model of outstanding talents, aiming to cultivate leading talents with outstanding innovative scientific research capabilities, strong international competitiveness and deep feelings for family and country.

The college currently has two undergraduate majors in automation and industrial design, and has a doctoral program in control science and engineering. The college has two research centers: control science and technology and design intelligent manufacturing. The Center for Control Science and Technology has formed three stable and internationally influential main disciplines around the first-level disciplines of control science and engineering: control theory and control engineering, pattern recognition and intelligent systems, and navigation, guidance and control. The research fields of the Design and Intelligent Manufacturing Center show distinctive interdisciplinary characteristics, covering industrial and product design, intelligent manufacturing, electronic engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, materials engineering, system engineering and other directions.