Human/Machine Interfaces: ABI Research Calls for Common Sense

OYSTER BAY, N.Y.--Oct. 2, 20041, 2004--Technology control interfaces can make good machines useless, or can enhance our whole user experience. And some of the newest crop of human-machine interfaces (HMI) illustrate both the best and the worst in design.

As an example of the worst, ABI Research analyst Chris Lopez cites BMW's new "iDrive", a spherical knob linked to a multi-menu screen. Depending on the function you wish to control, say the ventilation or the radio, the knob uses "haptics" -- the technology of tactile feedback -- to reflect and guide your choices. One control does many different things.

"The trouble with iDrive," says Lopez, "is that its menu structure is ridiculously complex. Just to change the radio station, you've got to navigate a large number of different menu levels. Pushing a single button is so much easier."

In contrast, Lexus chose a flat panel display featuring both "hard" (mechanical) and "soft" buttons that appear on the screen. The hard buttons select major functions, while the soft ones provide choices for a given function. "It's simple, and it works," says Lopez.

ABI Research's new study, "Haptics, Voice Recognition Systems, and Display Markets" examines three main HMI technologies by application, to give a detailed and well-informed market breakdown. The three markets studied are automotive, portable (mobile phones), and industrial human/machine interfaces.

HMI will also add new twists to mobile phones over the next two years, led by firms such as Immersion and Speech Works International. Individual ringtones will become individual vibration patterns. Technology that interactively "projects" small cellphone keyboards onto large flat surfaces already exists, but has not been widely adopted. Speech recognition is not new either, but is improving fast.

Solutions in search of problems? "No," says Lopez. "Tomorrow some of these will be what the camera/phone has become today."

An "Analyst Insight" discussing HMI may be read at http://www.abiresearch.com/insights/76.html.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in New York, ABI Research maintains global operations that support annual research programs, quarterly intelligence services and market reports in wireless, automotive, semiconductors, broadband, and energy. Their market research products can be found on the Web at www.abiresearch.com, or by calling 516.624.3113.