At the Interface: Opening a Debate on the Future of Interfaces

Abstract

Human-machine interaction (HMI) is a multilayered discipline that includes the study of human factors, engineering and interaction design. By its own definition HMI brings together heterogenous design challenges that cross multiple domains. Radical innovation in the field of machine learning, material science, manufacturing processes, sensing and actuating systems are rapidly transforming the way we interact with technology: computers are disappearing into everyday objects, products and systems are becoming more autonomous and proactive, and new interaction techniques are able to capture the richness of the human body expressivity. In this paper, we propose the interface as the material and conceptual place where the novel challenges of HMI should be addressed and solved. Our goal is to open a debate on the centrality of the interface design in industrial design and on the establishment of a multidisciplinary framework to synthesize technological, cognitive, social, cultural, and economic instances.