What is the purpose of a Human-Machine Interface (HMI)?

A Human-Machine Interface (HMI) serves a crucial role in facilitating interaction between operators and automation systems. The purpose of an HMI is to provide a platform or interface through which operators can monitor, control, and interact with industrial machines or processes. This interaction can include displaying data, sending commands, adjusting parameters, and visualizing system status, which enhances the operator's ability to effectively manage operations.

While automating tasks without human intervention is a function of advanced systems, it does not align with the primary purpose of an HMI, which emphasizes operator engagement. Keeping operators away from systems would contradict the very essence of an HMI, as it is designed to enhance human involvement, not minimize it. Managing inventory levels could be part of an automation system enabled by an HMI, but that specific task does not encompass the broader purpose of HMI technology itself. Thus, enabling operators to interact with the automation system is the definitive function of an HMI, making it the correct and essential choice.