Although robots are becoming an increasingly widespread feature of industrial manufacturing, there’s no reason to believe that human capabilities will soon be irrelevant on the factory floor. In fact, as flexible production strategies gain prominence, human creativity has become more critical than ever before — and machines need to be able to harness it.
As automation technologies progress, there are more opportunities for machinery to respond directly to input from human operators. However, if this equipment lacks an intuitive interface, it can be prohibitively difficult for operators to access the full range of functionality. This is why a good human-machine interface (HMI) is extremely important.