Human machine interfaces (HMI) are operator interface terminals with which users interact in order to control other devices. Some human machine interfaces include knobs, levers, and controls. Others provide programmable function keys or a full key pad. Devices that include a processor or interface to personal computers (PCs) are also available. Many human machine interfaces include alphanumeric or graphic displays. For ease of use, these displays are often backlit or use standard messages. When...
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Q & A on Human Machine Interfaces
We asked our users for their input on Human Machine Interfaces. Here are the results of 51 users familiar with Human Machine Interfaces.
Who Took Our Poll? | Design Trends | Applications and Use | Features | Buying Advice |Design TrendsTop
What new technologies are influencing human machine interface design?
8 answers
I am working in the Marine Industry, Web controlled applications, from shore we have access via Satellite hi speed data connection at the HMI on board the vessel in the middle of the oceans.
~Flokas S, Engineer, Athens, Greece
Advanced touch technologies
Voice Recognition
Ergonomic keyboards
Hand controllers eg gaming
OLED Displays
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
Better displays, higher pixel count, better memory capabilities (USB and SD hot swappable, for example)
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
Dual touch, Capacitive screen, Recipe, Alarm monitoring, Sampling the data and graph
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Silverlight & wpf html5 jquery
~Engineering, Consulting, Ankara, Turkey
Touch Panel, Membrane Keypad
~Dave J, Marketing/Sales, Riverside, CA
Plant monitoring
~Engineering, Other, Hull, Great Britain
Ethernet
~Carlos D, Engineer, BS AS, Argentina
From your perspective, which companies are creating the most innovative human machine interfaces?
7 answers
Companies that are designing and manufacturing: projected capacitance touchscreens, projected IR keyboards, advanced speech recognition, advanced ergonomic controls both touch and tactile.
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
Many .... Mitsubishi , Advantech, Siemens
~Flokas S, Engineer, Athens, Greece
Do not use several to compare
~Carlos D, Engineer, BS AS, Argentina
Proface, Keyence, Chino
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Allen-Bradley
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
Mitsubishi
~Engineering, Other, Hull, Great Britain
Apple
~Engineering, Consulting, Ankara, Turkey
Applications and UseTop
What are some of the applications you have used human machine interfaces for?
15 answers
Weighing and dosing (recipe management, alarm log)
Packaging machines (package size selection, alarm log)
Transport systems (route selection, alarm log)
Water Treatment Plant (operation parameters, alarm log)
Newspaper printing press (operation parameters, alarm log)
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
Monitoring of various machineries
Telegraph order's printer / Container Vessels
Stand-By Start for Emergency Generators, various pumps / Container Vessels
Start/Stop and Safety System for Diesel Engines (Marine Generators Pmax=4MW)
~Flokas S, Engineer, Athens, Greece
Process Control, Point of Sale, Point of Purchase, Machine Control, Gaming, Kiosks, Process Automation, Communications, etc.
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
Guitar Volume and Tone Controls, Motor Speed Control, Welder Feed Speed Control
~Dave J, Marketing/Sales, Riverside, CA
Mobile applications, desktop applications, web applications
~Engineering, Consulting, Ankara, Turkey
Food, Packaging, Machinery, Solar industries
~Research & Development, Mariano Comense, Italy
Moulding machine, Robot systems, Feeder
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Industrial control under 600V
~Engineering, Design, Milwaukee, WI
Biomedical apparatus
~Other, São Paulo, Brazil
Medical, industrial
~General Corporate Mgmt, Shenzhen, China
Automation, Machine
~Carlos D, Engineer, BS AS, Argentina
Control rooms
~Technical Support/Services, Fort Collins, CO
Visualisation
~Marketing/Sales, Wellingborough, United Kingdom
PLC course
~Engineering, Other, Hull, Great Britain
Monitoring
~Engineering, Consulting, New Delhi, India
Please share with us any “non-standard” applications that human machine interfaces have been used for.
4 answers
Used one at a soil drilling machine to monitor drilling speed (rotation and displacement) and depth, display in graphs and save data to be analyzed in a PC later.
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
Everything can be used, there is nothing non-standard in our job.
~Flokas S, Engineer, Athens, Greece
I don't think there are any non-standard applications.
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
In electrical meter.
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Do you know of any disastrous mistakes that occurred due to the incorrect usage of human machine interfaces?
2 answers
Machine will not run, so operator does not know the problem
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
None that bad
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
FeaturesTop
What would your design or feature "wish list" be for this product?
6 answers
Adding intelligence to the HMI error recognition and suppression
Better ergonomics
OLED Displays
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
Communications pass-thru which would allow for using it as a gateway.
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
HMI with bigger capacity and more connections flexibility.
~Flokas S, Engineer, Athens, Greece
Protocol design and automated port selection
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Ease of programming, fast download.
~Carlos D, Engineer, BS AS, Argentina
Moving visuals
~Engineering, Other, Hull, Great Britain
Buying AdviceTop
Do you have any advice for people relative to buying or using human machine interfaces?
5 answers
Always keep in mind the environment where your product will be used. Environmental issues are the number one cause of failure.
~Dave J, Marketing/Sales, Riverside, CA
See quality, versatile to different PLC, look for features like, sampling, recipe, alpha numeric sampling, alarm, tag
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Try it before you buy it. It must make sense for the application. (Using a gaming control for movies is no good)
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
Stay up to date to better select and apply the best suiting model to the application.
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
Correctly select the communication protocol and hardware aimed at connecting.
~Carlos D, Engineer, BS AS, Argentina
Is there any advice you want to share with users to help them avoid common errors in selection or usage of human machine interfaces?
4 answers
Make alphanumeric sampling, good graph drawing facility, port selection should be configurable like RS232 or RS422/485.
~Technical Support, Chennai, India
Correctly select the communication protocol and hardware aimed at connecting.
~Carlos D, Engineer, BS AS, Argentina
Consult a system integrator who will have some experience on selection.
~Luis B, Design Engineer, Guatemala, Guatemala
Try it before you buy it.
~Steven, Marketing/Sales, Dallas, TX
