Automata and automata mappings of semigroups

The paper is devoted to two types of algebraic models of automata. The usual (first type) model leads to the developed decomposition theory (Krohn-Rhodes theory). We introduce another type of automata model and study how these automata are related to cascade connections of automata of the first type. The introduced automata play a significant role in group theory and, hopefully, in the theory of formal languages.