Displays IN GOOD HANDS
“To touch is to give life,” said Michelangelo. Though spoken in Renaissance Italy, the idea still resonates in the Digital Age. Across industry, traditional controls are being replaced by sleek digital interfaces, removing the tactile cues that once guided human action. Here, Ross Turnbull, director of Business Development at application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) specialist Swindon Silicon Systems, explains how haptic technology, powered by custom ICs, is restoring touch to human-machine interfaces.
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n the earliest industrial machines, operators controlled equipment using physical inputs such as levers, knobs, buttons and switches. These are the first human-machine interfaces (HMIs). Acting as a direct link between humans and machines, they allowed users to guide operations, monitor responses and make adjustments in real time.
Over time, traditional controls have been replaced by digital panels and touchscreens. These modern interfaces allow for flexible layouts and programmable controls; however, this evolution has largely removed the tactile cues that mechanical interfaces provided.
Without this feedback, users must rely solely on visual or auditory signals. In demanding industrial environments, this can impact performance and safety, increasing cognitive load, slowing reaction times and making high- precision tasks more error-prone. The digital revolution and industrial modernisation show no signs of slowing. This presents a key challenge for designers: how can they maintain intuitive, responsive and safe human-machine interaction?
RESTORING THE SENSE OF TOUCH Haptic technology allows digital systems to
recreate physical sensations, generating tactile responses that signal when an input has been recognised or when a machine has changed state. These effects range from a sharp, button-like click to more nuanced pulses or vibrations that guide user behaviour.
These sensations are created by actuators such as piezo elements, linear resonant actuators or electrostatic drivers that convert electrical signals into controlled motion. However, the quality of feedback
depends not just on the actuator itself, but on how precisely these signals are generated and delivered. Even small deviations in amplitude, frequency or pulse shape can make sensations feel unnatural, reducing operator confidence and precision. To maintain natural, responsive feedback, haptic systems often rely on closed-loop control, precise waveform shaping and real-time adjustment. These features ensure that each tactile pulse aligns with human expectations, even under varying conditions or in demanding environments. As digital interfaces replace mechanical controls, this capability is becoming increasingly important. Traditional levers, knobs and switches communicated through movement and resistance; flat touch panels do not. Haptics restore that missing layer of communication, providing users with a physical confirmation of their actions and a clearer sense of how the machine is responding. In industrial operations, this has immediate benefits. Inputs can be confirmed without relying entirely on visual cues, which helps reduce cognitive load and keeps attention on the task rather than the screen. It can also help improve reaction times and enable operators to perform high-precision actions with increased confidence. Yet, creating reliable, expressive haptic feedback is still technically challenging without the right expertise. It demands low-latency signal generation, precise actuator control and consistent performance in harsh industrial environments. These requirements can push
40 March 2026 Instrumentation Monthly
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