Human - computer interactions and user interfaces for remote control of manufacturing systems

Abstract

This paper refers to the new direction for enhancement in traditional remote controlling functionality in manufacturing systems. Employing a diversity of tools such as videoconferencing, computer supported cooperative work tools, immersive virtual reality, virtual environment tools, such as "Metaverse" tools, and Internet through Pragmatic Web, is necessary for overcoming the "space barrier". Therefore, further analysis of human-machine user interface is crucial for user interaction with manufacturing systems through remote control. That is the motivation for investigation on evaluation of the user interfaces for remote control of manufacturing systems within the above-mentioned framework. Preliminary results of the evaluation of two types of interfaces are presented in this paper. These two interfaces are distinctive in one particular presentational aspect, while all the remote controlling functionalities are equal for both. The results show that one user interface type clearly fares better than the other over a number of factors as graded by users.