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The blending of human and mechanical capabilities has become a reality in the realm of Industry 4.0. Enterprises are encouraged to design frameworks capable of harnessing the power of human and technological resources to enhance the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Over the past decade, AI technologies have transformed the competitive landscape, particularly during the pandemic. Consequently, the job market, at an international level, is transforming towards the integration of suitably skilled people in cutting edge technologies, emphasizing the need to focus on the upcoming super-smart society known as Society 5.0. The concept of a Humachine builds on the notion that humans and machines have a common future that capitalizes on the strengths of both humans and machines. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify the capabilities and distinguishing characteristics of both humans and machines, laying the groundwork for improving human–machine interaction (HMI).

In this work, we present a systematic review on non-invasive HMIs employing hybrid wearable sensor modalities for recognition of upper limb intentions. Different combinations of the sensors are investigated. As sEMG is dominant in the applications of externally powered prosthetic hands, it is involved in most hybrid sensor combinations. The combined use of sEMG and IMU is most studied in the literature as IMU is easy to be integrated. Though limited, the investigation on other hybrid modalities has been drawing more and more research attention and efforts, especially those with FMG and NIRS. For all the reported hybrid sensors, it is verified that this strategy can enrich the information of user intention and help the pattern recognition and/or intensity regulation of robotic hand/arm prosthesis. Though it is the trend, the development of these hybrid-sensor-based HMIs are still at the preliminary stage. More dedicated sensor fusion models and system architectures as well as new hybrid features and algorithms need to be developed to make the best use of each sensing modality’s strength to achieve robust and stable user intention recognition, which is essential for the progress and user acceptance of upper limb prosthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust has been clearly identified as a key concept for human–machine interaction (HMI): on the one hand, users should trust artificial systems; on the other hand, devices must be able to estimate both how much other agents trust them and how trustworthy the other agents are. Indeed, the applications of trust in these scenarios are so complex that often, the interaction models consider only a part of the possible interactions and not the system in its entirety. On the contrary, in this work, we made the effort to consider the different types of interaction together, showing the advantages of this approach and the problems it allows to face. After the theoretical formalization, we introduce an agent simulation to show the functioning of the proposed model. The results of this work provide interesting insights for the evolution of HMI models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autonomous cars should communicate with other road users such as pedestrians by exterior displays. This raises traffic safety. We build a full‐scale movable battery‐powered mock‐up with RGB LEDs matrix and e‐spaper displays. Measurements and evaluations with subjects were performed. A 35" RGB LED display (128 × 64, 6 mm pixel pitch) and animated icons showed best results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A Human Machine Interface (HMI) should support the driver during automated driving. • This work explores support of supervision and self-regulation through HMI design. • Simulated drives with four different HMI designs were presented to participants. • Concurrent think-aloud data and questionnaire data were collected. • Findings highlight potential of anticipatory and automation reliability information. In the transition towards higher levels of vehicle automation, one of the key concerns with regards to human factors is to avoid mode confusion, when drivers misinterpret the driving mode and therewith misjudge their own tasks and responsibility. To enhance mode awareness, a clear human centered Human Machine Interface (HMI) is essential. The HMI should support the driver tasks of both supervising the driving environment when needed and self-regulating their non-driving related activities (NDRAs). Such support may be provided by either presenting continuous information on automation reliability, from which the driver needs to infer what task is required, or by presenting continuous information on the currently required driving task and allowed NDRA directly. Additionally, it can be valuable to provide continuous information to support anticipation of upcoming changes in the automation mode and its associated reliability or required and allowed driver task(s). Information that could support anticipation includes the available time until a change in mode (i.e. time budget), information on the upcoming mode, and reasons for changing to the upcoming mode. The current work investigates the effects of communicating this potentially valuable information through HMI design. Participants received information from an HMI during simulated drives in a simulated car presented online (using Microsoft Teams) with an experimenter virtually accompanying and guiding each session. The HMI either communicated on automation reliability or on the driver task, and either included information supporting anticipation or did not include such information. Participants were thinking aloud during the simulated drives and reported on their experience and preferences afterwards. Anticipatory information supported understanding about upcoming changes without causing information overload or overreliance. Moreover, anticipatory information and information on automation reliability, and especially a combination of the two, best supported understandability and usability. Recommendations are provided for future work on facilitating supervision and NDRA self-regulation during automated driving through HMI design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual workload while driving is increasing because of the growing amount of information presented to the driver by a high-functioning onboard unit. A method ofHMI to intuitively understand hazards without visual information is necessary. In this study, we focused on tactile sensation. The movement of surrounding objects was transmitted to the driver through a steering wheel using vibrotactile apparent motion. Firstly, we confirmed the highly intelligible characteristics of front-to-back, right-to-left, and back-to-front movements while holding a steering wheel. The direction of movement was transmitted using highly intelligible characteristics, and a positive effect was confinned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Автоматизована система керування технологічним процесом передбачає наявність функцій тривожної сигналізації, які виконують надзвичайно важливу роль. Від ефективності роботи підсистеми тривожної сигналізації залежить передусім безпека людей, виробництва та функціонування автоматизованої системи керування технологічним процесом в цілому. В Україні розробленню, впровадженню та експлуатації систем тривожної сигналізації приділяється недостатньо уваги. Тому це дослідження присвячено передусім трактуванню сучасного стандарту ISA-18.2 «Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries», який є визнаною хорошою інженерною практикою та покликаний забезпечити безпеку, якість та продуктивність технологічних процесів. Даній тематиці присвячено дві публікації. У першій вже опублікованій статті розкриваються основні сутності та положення, на яких базуються механізми організації системи тривожної сигналізації. Ця стаття присвячена роз'ясненню та аналізу робочих процесів життєвого циклу організації, які стандарт передбачає для розроблення, впровадження та експлуатації системи тривожної сигналізації. Організація функціонування системи тривожної сигналізації – це неперервна діяльність, усі робочі процеси якої розділені на десять стадій життєвого циклу, що вказують на функціональний аспект робіт, обов’язкових або рекомендованих до виконання. До них належать означення, документування, проектування, експлуатація, моніторинг та обслуговування систем тривожної сигналізації. Представлення системи через призму життєвого циклу організації її роботи дозволяє систематизувати уявлення розробників/користувачів про процеси, які відбуваються навколо системи за рахунок стадійного структурування вимог та рекомендацій.

In this paper, we present our investigation of the 2D Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) which may be suitable for the control of the Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV). In real conditions, we deal with, among others, a complex background, changing lighting conditions, and different distances of the operator from the AGV. For this reason, in the article, we describe the database of 2D images created during the research. We tested classic algorithms and modified them by us ResNet50 and MobileNetV2 which were retrained partially using the transfer learning approach, as well as proposed a simple and effective Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). As part of our work, we used a closed engineering environment for rapid prototyping of vision algorithms, i.e., Adaptive Vision Studio (AVS), currently Zebra Aurora Vision, as well as an open Python programming environment. In addition, we shortly discuss the results of preliminary work on 3D HGR, which seems to be very promising for future work. The results show that, in our case, from the point of view of implementing the gesture recognition methods in AGVs, better results may be expected for RGB images than grayscale ones. Also using 3D imaging and a depth map may give better results.

Human–Machine Interface (HMI) plays a key role in the interaction between people and machines, which allows people to easily and intuitively control the machine and immersively experience the virtual world of the meta-universe by virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) technology. Currently, wearable skin-integrated tactile and force sensors are widely used in immersive human–machine interactions due to their ultra-thin, ultra-soft, conformal characteristics. In this paper, the recent progress of tactile and force sensors used in HMI are reviewed, including piezoresistive, capacitive, piezoelectric, triboelectric, and other sensors. Then, this paper discusses how to improve the performance of tactile and force sensors for HMI. Next, this paper summarizes the HMI for dexterous robotic manipulation and VR/AR applications. Finally, this paper summarizes and proposes the future development trend of HMI.

Featured Application: Structural corrosion monitoring for offshore wind turbines. The exploitation of offshore windfarms (WFs) goes hand in hand with large capital expenditures (CAPEX) and operational expenditures (OPEX), as these mechanical installations operate continuously for multiple decades in harsh, saline conditions. OPEX can account for up to 30% of the levelised cost of energy (LCoE) for a deployed offshore wind farm. To maintain the cost-competitiveness of deployed offshore WFs versus other renewable energy sources, their LCoE has to be kept in check, both by minimising the OPEX and optimising the offshore wind energy production. As corrosion, in particular uniform corrosion, is a major cause of failure of offshore wind turbine structures, there is an urgent need for corrosion management systems for deployed offshore wind turbine structures (WTs). Despite the fact that initial corrosion protection solutions are already integrated on some critical structural components such as WT towers, WT transition pieces or WT sub-structure (fixed or floating platforms), these components can still be harshly damaged by the corrosive environmental offshore conditions. The traditional preventive maintenance strategy, in which regular manual inspections by experts are necessary, is widely implemented nowadays in wind farm applications. Unfortunately, for such challenging operating environments, regular human inspections have a significant cost, which eventually increase the OPEX. To minimise the OPEX, remote corrosion monitoring solutions combined with supporting software (SW) tools are thus necessary. This paper focuses on the development of a software (SW) tool for the visualisation of corrosion measurement data. To this end, criteria for efficient structural corrosion analysis were identified, namely a scaleable, SCADA-compatible, secure, web accessible tool that can visualise 3D relationships. In order to be effective, the SW tool requires a tight integration with decision support tools. This paper provides three insights: Firstly, through a literature study and non-exhaustive market study, it is shown that a combined visualisation and decision SW tool is currently non-existing in the market. This gap motivates a need for the development of a custom SW tool. Secondly, the capabilities of the developed custom software tool, consisting of a backend layer and visualisation browser designed for this task are demonstrated and discussed in this paper. This indicates that a SCADA-compatible visualisation software tool is possible, and can be a major stepping stone towards a semi-automated decision support toolchain for offshore wind turbine corrosion monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to show an intuitive technology adoption model for the operational management of automated irrigated systems aimed at farmers. In general, with the migration of people from the countryside to the city, there is a significant decrease in the workforce, circumstances that demand to improve the performance of the processes, however, one of the main problems is related to the low adoption of given technology due to the opposition exercised by the farmer to change, that is, with respect to conventional ways of carrying out agricultural activities, this is how the study aims to optimize agricultural work by encouraging the farmer to appropriate and use technology. The study was developed by the Canter for Agricultural Biotechnology (CBA) of SENA. A review of the state of the art is carried out to evaluate in a detailed way the antecedents associated with the appropriation of technology in the agricultural area, later a graphic interface design is made on a touch screen that is controlled by means of the programming of a programmable logic controller (PLC) and finally, performance tests are carried out in the field with potential farmers who are unaware of the new technologies for agriculture. From the study it is obtained that the model facilitates the way of learning and understanding of the technology of the irrigated systems by the farmer, progressively promotes the confidence of the base farmer in the irrigation systems with different degrees of autonomy. The teaching model facilitates the first steps in the use of technology and its appropriation, which proves to be a significant contribution to agricultural work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mental, physical, and emotional workload is the main source for the driver’s stress, fatigue, and distraction, which affects the driving tasks performed by the driver in terms of responding to the surroundings and the delay in reacting to events. Driver behaviour is an uncertain element within Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Thus, this work presents a mathematical model that accounts for three main elements in ADAS-assisted vehicles, autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles, and autonomous and connected vehicles. The model accounts for processing times by the On-Board Unit (OBU), driver time, which covers both perception and response times, and communication time, which covers exchanged messages between vehicles and/ or infrastructure. The model shows two distinct behaviours, power law trend in the case of ADAS and exponential trend in the case of autonomous and connected vehicles, with both power and exponential interacting in the case of connected vehicles. In all considered scenarios, the mathematical model presents a dynamically interacting usability function that contains probability, Gaussian interpolation, and value limiting functions. The work also shows the effect of each time component on the usability, and hence the effectiveness of avoiding incidents. The model helps in optimizing both HMI, electronics, and communication designs. Driver time, in the case of ADAS, connected vehicles, and under rare conditions in autonomous and connected vehicles is critical, hence HMI optimization is important even though in autonomous and connected vehicles is not always needed. The work shows that the best driving usability is in the case of autonomous and connected vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is the development and design of a supervision and control HMI using SIMATIC WinCC Flexible software, relying on the optimal data applied to the industrial process of the AFB system of FESTO. Using on the one side the simulation where we will use the two simulators of Siemens: PLCSIM of the STEP7 SIMATIC Manger software and RUNTIME of SIMATIC WinCC Flexible and on the other side by integrating the PID as a technological object for the regulation of the level in the studied sub-station. Our contribution consists of modeling, control and visualization of a real AFB system of FESTO located at the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory of Tlemcen MELT in University of Tlemcen, by using an optimal database. The application of the supervision realized will permit us a visualization and a real time diagnostic of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the most important duties of the school inspectorate since its formation in 1839 has been to report on the quality of teaching. Yet there is relatively little historical discussion over how the inspectorate has defined and evaluated teaching quality, which this paper seeks to address. Following a discussion of conceptual issues and an outline of the paper's methodology, the inspectorate's views on teaching excellence are compared in three significant decades in its history: in the 1840s, when inspection judgements on teaching were highly individualized; in the 1880s, when the Education Department explicated and rewarded teaching excellence in financial terms; and the 1990s, when the newly-formed Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) introduced comprehensive guidance upon which to base its judgements. The paper identifies the influences on such judgements, how teaching excellence was described, and longstanding challenges associated with consistency of inspection judgements. Such historical perspective affords important context to questions that continue to have resonance in the inspection of primary schools, notably how teaching quality is defined, measured, evaluated and improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Process plant operators rely on their knowledge of process cause-and-effect relationships during abnormal situation management. Novice operators develop such process knowledge during training. Hence, holistic assessment of operators' training is essential to ensure process safety. Currently, during training, operators' process understanding is evaluated using criteria such as successful completion, task based measures, and operator actions that ignore their cognitive behavior. In this work, we propose an eye-tracking-based approach that uses the operator's attention allocation during different pre-specified training scenarios along with process data, alarm information, and operator actions. Our approach is based on the precept that an operator would focus their attention on those variables on the human-machine interface that they believe have a direct causal relationship to the situation at hand. Also, expert operators seek time-based information for proactive monitoring. Accordingly, to quantify the progress of a novice operator's learning, we develop two metrics — association metric and salience metric — using correspondence analysis of operators' eye gaze. To evaluate the applicability of the metrics, we conducted experiments with ten participants who performed 486 tasks. Statistical studies reveal that the proposed metrics can quantify operators' learning and thus can be used to objectively evaluate training effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of research of this paper combines Human Computer Interface, gesture recognition and fingertips tracking. Most gesture recognition algorithms processing color images are unable to locate folded fingers hidden inside hand contour. With use of hand landmarks detection and localization algorithm, processing directional images, the fingertips are tracked whether they are risen or folded inside the hand contour. The capabilities of the method, repeatibility and accuracy, are tested with use of 3 gestures that are recorded on the USB camera. Fingertips are tracked in gestures presenting a linear movement of an open hand, finger folding into fist and clenched fist movement. In conclusion, a discussion of accuracy in application to HCI is presented.

While partially automated vehicles can provide a range of benefits, they also bring about new Human Machine Interface (HMI) challenges around ensuring the driver remains alert and is able to take control of the vehicle when required. While humans are poor monitors of automated processes, specifically during `steady state' operation, presenting the appropriate information to the driver can help. But to date, interfaces of partially automated vehicles have shown evidence of causing cognitive overload. Adaptive HMIs that automatically change the information presented (for example, based on workload, time or physiologically), have been previously proposed as a solution, but little is known about how information should adapt during steady-state driving. This study aimed to classify information usage based on driver experience to inform the design of a future adaptive HMI in partially automated vehicles. The unique feature of this study over existing literature is that each participant attended for five consecutive days; enabling a first look at how information usage changes with increasing familiarity and providing a methodological contribution to future HMI user trial study design. Seventeen participants experienced a steady-state automated driving simulation for twenty-six minutes per day in a driving simulator, replicating a regularly driven route, such as a work commute. Nine information icons, representative of future partially automated vehicle HMIs, were displayed on a tablet and eye tracking was used to record the information that the participants fixated on. The results found that information usage did change with increased exposure, with significant differences in what information participants looked at between the first and last trial days. With increasing experience, participants tended to view information as confirming technical competence rather than the future state of the vehicle. On this basis, interface design recommendations are made, particularly around the design of adaptive interfaces for future partially automated vehicles.

Bu çalışmada, özellikle felçli hastaların yaşamlarını kolaylaştırmak için Elektrookülogram (EOG) işaretinin insan makine arabirimi (İMA) için işlenmesi gerçekleştirilmiştir. Göz hareketleri, Biopac MP30 cihazıyla, 5 adet Ag-AgCl elektrot kullanılarak algılanmıştır. Alınan işaretler ön işlemeye tabi tutularak Matlab ortamında öznitelikleri çıkarılacak hale getirilmiştir. Elde edilen biyopotansiyel sinyallerden öznitelikler çıkarılarak kontrol edilecek sisteme göre etiketlenmiştir. Bu etiketler sağ, sol, yukarı, aşağı ve göz kırpmasıdır. Çıkarılan özellikler yapay sinir ağları kullanılarak sınıflandırılmıştır. Sınıflandırmanın ardından özellik azaltım yöntemleri kullanılarak sonuç üzerinde etkisi az olan öznitelikler elenmiş ve daha az özellik ile sınıflandırma başarımları test edilmiştir.

Автоматизована система керування технологічним процесом передбачає наявність функцій тривожної сигналізації, які виконують надзвичайно важливу роль. Від ефективності роботи підсистеми тривожної сигналізації залежить передусім безпека людей, виробництва та функціонування автоматизованої системи керування технологічним процесом в цілому. В Україні розробленню, впровадженню та експлуатації систем тривожної сигналізації приділяється недостатньо уваги. Тому це невеличке дослідження присвячено передусім трактуванню сучасного стандарту ISA-18.2 «Management of Alarm Systems for the Process Industries», який є визнаною хорошою інженерною практикою. Стаття розділена на дві публікації. У цій частині розкриваються основні сутності, на яких базуються механізми організації систем тривожної сигналізації. Наступна стаття буде присвячена роз'ясненню робочих процесів життєвого циклу системи, які стандарт передбачає для розроблення, впровадження та експлуатації систем тривожної сигналізації.

Changes to the simulator rejection system from the previous research were carried out by replacing all sensors, drive motors, PLC systems, and adding HMI systems. The objectives in this research, namely (i) changing and developing a rejection system simulator, creating a ladder-based program structure and configuring HMI systems and (ii) measuring the performance of the simulators. Rejection system simulator is fabricated and reassembled, ladder-based syntax into PLCs and HMI is also configured, and observing the performance is done through the HMI layer. The results of programming is carried out through (i) providing software for PLCs, (ii) programming the PLC system, (iii) compiling and uploading programs from PC to PLC, (iv) configuring PLC and HMI via ethernet, and (v) compiling and uploading the program structure from PC to HMI. The performance for observing the condition of the bottle cap through the HMI is observed when (i) synchronization between the simulator system and the HMI-assisted PLC control, (ii) the reading of the sensors installed on the simulator, and (iii) the rotation process of the rejector arm. Overall, the rejection system simulator with a PLC-based assisted by HMI can be used as a process simulation against the implementation of the rejection system

Vehicles equipped with so-called partially automated driving functions are becoming more and more common nowadays. The special feature of this automation level is that the driver is relieved of the execution of the lateral and longitudinal driving task, although they must still monitor the driving environment and the automated system. The method presented in this paper should enable the assessment of the usability and safety of such systems in a standardized manner. It is designed to capture a driver’s interaction with a system via the human–machine interface in specific scenarios in user studies. It evaluates several observable aspects of this interaction in real time and codes inadequate behavior in the categories “system operation”, “driving behavior” and “monitoring behavior”. A generic rating regarding the overall handling of the scenario is derived from these criteria. The method can be used with the assistance of a tablet application called the S.A.D.E. app (Standardized Application for Automated Driving Evaluation). Initial studies using driving simulators show promising results regarding its ability to detect problems related to a system or HMI, with some future challenges remaining open.