A Human-Machine Interface (HMI) is a user interface or dashboard that connects a person to a machine, system, or device. While the term can technically be applied to any screen that allows a user to interact with a device, HMI is most commonly used in the context of an industrial process.

HMIs are similar in some ways to Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) but they are not synonymous; GUIs are often leveraged within HMIs for visualization capabilities.

In industrial settings, HMIs can be used to:

• Visually display data
• Track production time.
• trends
• tags
• graphic designing
• Monitor machine inputs and outputs
• user administration
• receipe
• many more

Similar to how you would interact with your air-conditioning system to check and control the temperature in your house, a plant-floor operator might use an HMI to check and control the temperature of an industrial water tank, or to see if a certain pump in the facility is currently running.

Basic HMI examples include built-in screens on machines, computer monitors, and tablets, but regardless of their format or which term you use to refer to them, their purpose is to provide insight into mechanical performance and progress.