Totally agree! One way I helped with the automation on that is to have a non-mining PC that is on the same network do a ping to the miner at a specific time interval. If the ping fails, then it sends a text to my phone and make it my decision on whether or not to re-boot via the smart plug.
Here's what I do;
* Set up 'Mining Observer' (android) on your phone.
* It vibrates / illuminates / plays a sound when a rigs hashrate drops below a user-specified level (I set it to 90% indicating rig failure) You also set the query interval
* First attempt to remote in to see if it's miner-related, if remote viewer fails;
* Flick smart plug
I get about 5% false-positives on Mining Observer due to Cryptonight rigs hitting a lean spot.
I will admit this needs optimization - I want to monitor the hashrate of my windows rigs and automatically restart miner after a crash or when Vegas overheat and stop hashing.
I tried but it works only with public pools.