You can do it. If you do it right it's about as hard for the operator as running a bar fed lathe.
Cheap, it is not gonna be, though. Realistically, you need a robot (15-50k, depending) some sort of work handling (grippers, blank nests, finished part nests) an auto door of some description (I guess you can have the robot open the usual door, but then your robot and your setup guy have to be able to coexist, which makes everything harder)
You need some sort of automatable work holding. I like the Schunk KSP series for this, as it avoids hydraulics and my parts tend to be small. Cheap, they are not.
You need tool and workpiece probing. There's no value to making a bunch of parts unattended if you just make a bunch of scrap.
Everything needs to be waterproof, which runs up the cost.
You either need to go with a cobot (more $$$) or have adequate guarding and safeties. Possibly both.
If you know what you're doing but it is a new build, figure three man-months for a $100k a year employee, plus fifty to a hundred grand out of pocket.
If you don't know what you're doing, a year of dedicated time will probably get you there, at what you cost.
All that is to say, this is not cheap and you aren't likely to save any real money vs buying a robot load system off the shelf.
Good luck!