It should be possible to examine an automated system in regard to possible errors in a simpler manner. Therefore, a method is proposed for controlling an electric machine or unit by actuating a component (1) of the electric machine or unit using a predicate (3) and by automatically examining the component in regard to the performance of the predicate (3). The predicate (3) contains an expected value (32) of a (physical) quantity of the component. In the examination of the component (1), it is checked whether the expected value (32) actually arises when the predicate (3) is performed. Thus, error situations can be detected by the runtime system without explicit programming being necessary therefor.