Amongst other things, COVID has highlighted the downside of bacteria being easily transmitted on public interfaces terminals. In our latest blog we discuss the alternatives available to help reduce the spread of bacteria on these frequently touched surfaces.
Developments in interface technologies
User interfaces for public terminals have evolved over the years moving from membrane and rubber keypads to sleek touchscreens, that use capacitive touch technology. The adoption of touchscreens has been widely accepted, their flexible and informative display making it easy for people to navigate their way through complex information and options. However, now the emphasize of surfaces being a key point of transmission for bacteria, thoughts are to whether contactless HMI’s are the next step.
What other options are there?
Access controls, self-service kiosks, and public terminals are just a few of the areas that pose risk of bacterial transfer from user to user. Therefore, to eliminate this issue there are several options available.
- Apps, for individuals to use these systems on their smartphones instead. However, the nature of where the app is required to replace the HMI and the ability for an app to be used could present some issues.
- Alternatively, AI-based voice recognition systems which allow the user to perform a task through speech could be another option. This type of technology has already proved popular in a number of consumer electronic products.
- Lastly there is touchless gesture recognition technology. This works by the user waving or signalling their hand in front of a screen, without touch, to perform a command.
All three of these technologies have pros and cons and depending on the location of the HMI will ultimately determine which one is used, and whether safety concerns of these surfaces is serious enough to have them changed.
What is the future for public HMI interfaces?
Now that users are aware of hygiene risks associated with public interfaces, it will be interesting to see where changes occur. Is it just simply that users need to ensure they sanitise their hands before using a public interface terminal? Or has the time come for gesture and voice recognition to be integrated into these areas.
The technologies behind these new interfaces includes cutting-edge AI, haptics, and gesture recognition, therefore it will be more costly. It depends if the advantages of using these new technologies out way the disadvantages.