Logging and visualization of touch interactions on teach pendants

Abstract

In industrial automation, there is a growing use of touch panels for controlling and programming machines. Compared to traditional panels with physical buttons, they provide higher flexibility and operating efficiency. A big challenge in the user interface design is their usability, which is directly related to the operator's safety and performance. In this paper, we present a software solution for the acquisition and visualization of user interaction data on teach pendants, which are handheld terminals for teaching robot positions. Interaction data include touch coordinates and navigation sequences, and they are visualized with a heatmap and a graph view, respectively. The design and implementation of the software is based on interviews which we conducted with companies from the automation industry. The painless integration of our software by manufacturers, together with the automated recording and visualisation of user interactions, allow for cost-efficient usability analysis of handheld terminals.