For the longest time possible, communication has laid the foundation of a successful and innovative future. Either it is the communication between people or a dialogue between a man and a machine. The output of growth has always relied on the input of a fascinating notion, and HMI’s or Human Machine Interfaces have worked from time immemorial to make these interactions clearer.
The Human Machine Interface (HMI) idea is as old as the Industrial Revolution, the era of mass production. It accentuates how humans have interacted with machines over the years: either through switches, voice commands, or other new interactive ways. As a result, we have seen many advancements in HMI throughout the years.
These interfaces have now evolved to become a part of our lives unprecedentedly and are everywhere nowadays. Although we utilise HMIs for essential communication on our smartphones and laptops, business and industrial workplaces rely on HMIs for an efficient end to end dialogue, productivity, preventing errors, and recording data.
Discussing the man-machine-interface raises two fundamental questions to the forefront:
- How do we communicate with the machine?
- How does the device communicate with us?
The answer is also a basic one – This “two-way communication” is achieved through various controls and displays.
An excellent human-machine interface should serve us a time-saving and functional purpose. They are intended to increase productivity, increase uptime, and provide consistent product quality to all their users. Because of this, HMIs are used in all types of industries, such as:
- Automotive
- Electronics
- Entertainment
- Energy
- Food and Beverage
- Manufacturing
- Military
- Medical
- Oil and Gas
- Power
- Recycling
- Robotics
- Water and Wastewater
For example, HMIs are used for medical devices, equipment controls, keypads, and panels in the medical industry. Whereas In the entertainment industry, HMIs are used for broadcast displays, mixing equipment, and lighting control.
Evolution of the Human-Machine Interface
1. The Push Button Era
In the 1900s, Buttons, knobs and sliders were used to build basic HMIs. Push buttons controlled things like lights, dials and gauges. Every automobile or electronic instrument was manual and had a system hardware control with LED’s or a small display ( 7-segment display).
2. The GUI Era
It was in the 1980s when the personal computer, PCs, were introduced in the mass market. This was when the HMIs started seeing a digital revolution along with the rest of the world. Graphical user interface (GUI) was introduced as a companion to this idea. A GUI is a computer coded interface that we see on display. Now humans could operate any machine using a display, a keyboard and a pointing device (mouse or Trackball).
Later in the early 2000s, Trackball was introduced in phones along with buttons.
3. The Touch Screen Era
Next came the touch screen HMI. Button phones lost their holding when the smartphone entered the market. These touchscreen HMIs had a touchscreen, looked sleek, had access to the Internet, and made communication much more accessible than regular phones. It wasn’t long until tablets, touchscreen laptops, digital laptops, smartboards, and intelligent televisions became famous, too. Even the smartwatches that we wear today have a touch screen interface that works on the same basis. When you look around yourself, you will understand how touch screens play an important role in easing human-machine interaction by a considerable amount.
Today, Virtual assistants, LED displays and voice command interfaces are the next big thing in the market. As these interfaces become a standard in the world around us, the world has also started adapting to newer technologies. There is no need to even touch the screen now. All you need to do is say your command, and your Voice Assistant will be able to operate the device based on that, such as Control your house lights, temperature and other home appliances.
With the advancements in artificial intelligence or AI, virtual assistants are improving daily. These virtual assistants can book tickets for you, order food, book a doctor’s appointment and can even send emails and messages without the need for manual labour.
Even automobiles these days come with artificial intelligence-powered voice assistance and a vast touch screen infotainment system. Moreover, displays are getting upgraded by augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology. In addition, researchers are already working on holographic displays, which will also provide the sensation of touch to the user in the next era of technology.
4. The Brain-Machine Interface Era
The world has already become magical with AI assistants and AR/VR all around us. However, entrepreneurs like Elon Musk are putting a step ahead in researching and advancing human-machine interfaces all the more every day.
Neuralink, a brain-machine interface developed by Elon Musk, can let humans control machines just by thinking about the action in their minds. You have to think of the action. A chip implanted in your brain catches the neuron signals and converts them to system understandable signals with the help of an Artificial Intelligence programme. This signal, in turn, will be sent to the devices over a network. So basically, you can play online games, control your PC or any intelligent electronic device just by thinking about them.
People with Neuralink implanted can talk without saying a word, that is, with the sheer power of their brain’s ability to think. Moreover, the concept has already been tested on monkeys, and it has only given positive results. In other words, Neuralink is the first concept of telepathy technology.
Advancements in telepathy technology will support mentally and physically challenged people interacting with machines without any physical contact or Voice Assistance.
For example, A disabled person will control an exoskeleton or a vehicle without any human aid.
New concepts in robotics and AI are pushing the limits of engineering
According to researchers, one of the significant drawbacks of artificial intelligence is developing a machine consciousness similar to human consciousness by self-improvement and attaining knowledge unknown to humans. AIs then could exploit humans using these human-machine interfaces and wreak havoc in the system of the world.
With further improvements in AI, we will see breakthrough advancements in the human-machine interface. Let’s see if it turns out to be a boon or bane. The future of HMIs is limitless. Who knows what the future has in store for us?
