Artificial Intelligence and Human Machine Interface (AI & HMI)

The partnership intends to support the adoption of Artificial Intelligence enhanced cyber physical systems (AI driven HMI) to accelerate the innovation process of SMEs.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Machine Interface (AI & HMI)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven technologies, leveraged by I4.0 KETs (e.g. IoT, Advanced Embedded Systems, Cloud Computing, Big Data, Cognitive Systems, Virtual and Augmented Reality) are ready to generate new paradigms and developments paths at any level of “physical” systems as automated industrial production systems.

Beside enabling effective management of complex systems and interconnected systems-of-systems, AI driven technologies can strongly impact, and potentially revolutionize, mechatronics, robotics, automation and human-machine interaction. In this context, several patterns are to be detected and developed, for a viable and profitable collaboration between users, designers and producers.

The partnership intends to support the adoption of Artificial Intelligence enhanced cyber-physical system, and more specifically AI driven HMI,  exploiting the knowledge, competencies and capacities of the stakeholders of participating regions so to accelerate the innovation processes of companies, including SMEs.

The partnership intends to take into account and address three main targets:

1. Competitiveness and revenues

Introducing a new enhanced HMI AI driven will allow the best use of sensors and monitoring systems based on IoT, big-data and cloud technologies. Moreover, it will yield ever-increasing knowledge processes for reviewing and improving design and manufacturing. Shifting automatic machinery and production plants from current mechanics and electronics to AI enhanced cyber-physical systems will increase performance while reducing material and energy consumptions. The role of advanced design, control algorithms and automation software will be crucial, inducing an inherent higher protection of the generated know-how, as algorithms and software are less visible and less prone to reverse engineering.

AI will bring to more effective and intuitive human machine interaction for normal operations, troubleshooting and maintenance. Cross fertilization with other sectors as Automotive, Smart devices and appliances will be favored.

AI represents a distinctive asset for European competitiveness and will be the best driver for larger world-wide market shares and revenues.

2. Social ecosystem

Appropriate adoption of AI technologies will avoid or mitigate the negative impact of a growing extended automation on employment in production and management fields, by generating new jobs, strongly based on digital familiarity (typical of new generations), from workshop level to engineering and management ones. Indeed, the number of engineers and expert technicians will increase remarkably in order to sustain the proposed evolution.

The exploitation of the enlarged skill base to support the use of the AI automation cyber-physical technologies and methodologies will have impact on several different sectors, such as Automotive autonomous driving; Autonomous transportation systems; Precision farming; Medical sector; Archeological sites recognition and reconstruction.

AI will foster the contribution to industrial automation by non-technical areas such as anthropocentric, cultural and behavioral sciences, “from STEM to STEAM”, including Art and Design to Science, Technology, Engineering, Math.

3. People

A significant impact on workers is envisaged in terms of:
 
  • Easing the possible conflict between Artificial Intelligence and Human intelligence, by anticipating relevant risk, and challenges
  • Putting the operator at the center by considering the Person and its cultural environment
  • Improving the efficiency of HMI by a larger use of the virtual cyber and physical environment
  • Reducing workers accident and generally improve job quality
  • Substituting person in boring and alienating jobs.

The interregional collaboration among regional stakeholders that the partnership is proposing is expected to produce the following benefits:
 
  • Enhance and accelerate the level of automation systems production and use
  • Introduce the AI concept, design and industrialisation methodologies
  • Increase the level of educational systems of both producers and users

Thematic working areas

The partnership intends to focus on 4 main sub-themes:
 
  • User experience data analytics: physiological and biomechanical data analysis to improve the workers experience and performance
  • User centered Design: Machine/ System user-centered design to leverage the operators’ skills that includes
  • AI enhanced Cyber-Physical Automation
  • HMI evolution including new interface local and remote devices and technologies

List of regions involved

Contact details of the leading regions

Contact details of DG REGIO

Related documents

Monitoring reports containing a management report and a progress report prepared by the lead regions are available here:
Monitoring report AI&HMI July-December 2020
English
(302 KB - PDF)
Download 

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