In Industry 4.0, a modern Human Machine Interface (HMI) is used to display and control all relevant information of machines and systems via graphical user interfaces (GUIs).
While the term can technically be applied to any technical possibility that allows a user to interact with a device, an HMI is most often used in the context of an embedded touch panel, which in addition to display, touch screen also has a corresponding computer unit.
Although HMI is the most common term for this technology, it is sometimes also referred to as man-machine interface (MMS), operator interface terminal, local operator interface or operator terminal.