Machine controller wrongly alerted (7)
I believe the answer is:
treadle
'machine controller' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'wrongly alerted' is the wordplay.
'wrongly' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen this in other clues).
'alerted' is an anagram of 'TREADLE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for treadle that I've seen before include "Foot-pedal" , "machine operator" , "operate a spinning-wheel" , "Machine foot-lever" , "Foot lever that works a machine" .)