The influence of task-oriented human-machine interface design on usability objectives

Abstract

Modern machine tools have become highly automated versatile production systems, often showing deficits in intuitive control opportunities. To match human-machine interfaces to increasing functionality requirements, the software complexity can be reduced by task-oriented human-machine interface design. Content of this paper is the evaluation of task-orientation and its influence on usability dimensions in a field and laboratory investigation. For this purpose, a function-oriented software for cutting machines, currently used in production, was compared to a task-oriented prototype by means of the IsoMetricsS. Results show an effect of task-orientation on conformity with user expectations and learnability in the laboratory study. Furthermore performance measurement shows that task-orientation leads to decreasing execution times.