How to design an industrial human-machine interface with an extraordinary sense of experience

The human-computer interface is a combination of the two universities of computer science and cognitive psychology. At the same time, it also absorbs the research results of linguistics, ergonomics and sociology. After more than 40 years of development, it has become one of the mainstream disciplines that studies users and their relationship with computers. In the field of industrial automation, factories have special requirements and design guidelines for human-machine interfaces.

Industrial Human-machine Interface (hereinafter referred to as Industrial HMI) is an intelligent terminal with a microprocessor. It is generally used in industrial applications to realize information interaction between humans and machines, including text or graphic display and input, etc. Features. At present, a large number of industrial man-machine interfaces are widely used in non-industrial areas such as intelligent buildings, smart homes, urban information management, and hospital information management because of their mature human-machine interface technology and high reliability. Therefore, the industrial man-machine interface is To develop a wider range of high-reliability intelligent information terminals. In the practical application of industrial applications, there are industrial man-machine interfaces in all fields that participate in human-machine information exchange. So what is industrial man-machine interface design? What are the principles of industrial man-machine interface design? Xiao Bian collects and summarizes information on the design principles, design ideas, and design content of industrial man-machine interfaces. For everyone to use for reference.

The industrial man-machine interface design mainly includes three aspects:

(1) Designing Interfaces Between Software Components

(2) Design modules and other non-human information producers and consumers interface

(3) Interface between designers (such as users) and computers

Industrial human-machine interface design ideas

Computers act according to the characteristics of the machine, and people follow their own ways of thinking and behavior. It is necessary to convert people's thinking and behavior into a machine-acceptable way and convert the behavioral mode of the machine into an acceptable way for adults. This transformation is the man-machine interface. To adapt the computer to man's thinking and action characteristics on the man-machine interface, this is the "people-oriented" man-machine interface design.

A friendly and beautiful interface will bring people a comfortable visual experience, which will bring people closer to the computer and create a selling point for the business. The interface design is not simply a fine art painting. He needs to position the user, use the environment, use the method, and design for the end user. It is a purely scientific art design. The criteria for testing an interface are neither the opinions of the leaders of a project development team nor the results of voting by project members, but rather the end-user experience. Therefore, interface design must be closely combined with user research, and it is a process of continuously designing satisfactory visual effects for end users.

Industrial man-machine interface design principles

And issued some control information to guide the operation of the field system. Therefore, they have high requirements for the intuitiveness and friendliness of the human-machine interface. The following principles should be considered in the design of the human-machine interface.

1. User-centered basic design principles

In the design process of the system, the designer must grasp the characteristics of the user and discover the needs of the user. In the entire development process of the system, it is necessary to continuously solicit the opinions of users and consult users. The system's design decisions must be combined with the user's work and application environment, and must understand the user's requirements for the system. The best way is to involve real users in the development so that developers can understand the user's needs and goals correctly and the system will be more successful.

2. The principle of order

That is, the main interface of monitoring and man-machine dialogue and its secondary interface are designed according to the sequence of events, the sequence of visits (from the whole to the individual, from big to small, from the upper to the lower, etc.) and the control process.

3. Functional principle

That is, according to the specific application function requirements of the target application environment and occasion, the control requirements of various subsystems, the same interface parallel processing requirements of different management objects, and the simultaneity requirements of multiple dialogue interactions, etc., the design of sub-functions distinguishes between multi-level menus and hierarchical prompts. The human-computer interaction interface, such as information and multiple windows in the dialog box, makes it easy for the user to distinguish and grasp the usage rules and characteristics of the interactive interface and improve the friendliness and ease of operation.

4. Consistency principle

Including the same color, consistent operating area, consistent text. That is, the interface colors, shapes, and fonts are consistent with national, international, or industry standards. On the other hand, the colors, shapes, and fonts of the interface are self-contained. The colors of different devices and the same design state should be the same. Interface details The consistency of the graphic design allows the operator to feel comfortable while looking at the interface so as not to distract him. Consistency can also reduce their operational errors for new operations personnel, or for operational personnel handling problems in an emergency.

5. Frequency principle

That is, the level of the human-machine interface and the display position of the dialogue window are designed according to the frequency of the interactive interaction of the management object, and the frequency of monitoring and accessing the dialogue is improved.

6. The principle of importance

That is, according to the importance and overall level of the management object in the control system, the position and salience of the primary and secondary menus and dialog windows of the man-machine interface are designed so as to help the management personnel to grasp the primary and secondary control system well and implement the control. The order of decisions to achieve optimal scheduling and management.

7. Object-oriented principles

That is, in accordance with the identity characteristics of the operator and the nature of the work, an adaptive and friendly man-machine interface is designed. According to their working needs, prompting, guiding, and helping information should be displayed in a pop-up window, thereby improving the user's level of interaction and efficiency.

The human-computer interaction interface, whether it is for the site controller or for superior monitoring and management, the two are closely intrinsically linked, they monitor and manage the site set the same object, so many field device parameters are shared between them. And pass on each other. A variety of industrial control configuration software and programming tools provide a powerful support for the production of exquisite human-computer interaction interface. The bigger and more complex the system, the better its performance.