My world is one of sci-fantasy weirdness with the express purpose of creating living ships and mecha that respond to psychic energy the way humans react to food. They need to consume psychic energy, or they start to decay and die. I want to structure them like living organisms, but more on that in another post. For now, here is how they're controlled.

With the use of an augmenter, one is able to scan the Parafanil gland in the brain, the gland used for excitation of psychic energy, to use as a template for a programmed spell.

When programming a spell, a template acts as the key to unlocking the magic. Think of a spell like a sequence of neurons firing all at once to cause a reaction within the brain. Only it acts in a more physical sense. The imager takes a sequence from the brain, the augmenter modifies that sequence, and the programmed spell holds it to be used by the agitation of psychic energy.

Almost like DNA, a programmed spell is tied very tightly to the template's origin. Only they will have access to the magic within. Making spells rather high expense for low outcome. However, those willing to pay these prices can achieve strange and wonderful things so long as they keep their programmed spells handy.

Eventually, the Orion Military would use programmed spells as an interface tool for magic users to control starships, mecha, and other war machines. This gave the users intimate control over these vehicles. Though it was always best to keep a handful of pilots on any given ship. 

Eventually, field augmenters, like the one pictured above, were invented as a suitable, and most importantly cheap, alternative to the long process of creating a programmed spell. That said, they were only good for creating spells that allowed for new pilots. And though the process only took a couple minutes, it still was considerably unreliable if not done with precision, which can be difficult in combat.

Augmenters and Programmed spells