HMI Human Machine Interface

HMI from KURZ: pioneering technology for autonomous driving and smart homes

HMI innovation brings progress to streets, homes, offices, and production halls. Without a human-machine interface there’d be no smart home applications, and the plans for autonomous driving would have never made it further than the drawing board. HMI creativity enables intuitive operation and functional displays, exciting design concepts, and clear shapes. Digital progress makes us take many things for granted. Users today expect not only technical miracles, but also innovative and beautiful design. In addition, they want their products to be economical and sustainable. KURZ HMI solutions make devices lighter, for instead of complex switches and controllers you only need two wafer-thin surface coatings - one for the desired design and one for the enabling technology. CO2 emissions during transport decrease with the weight of the products. Production becomes much more efficient because buttons and switches are now redundant. Here, too, there are additional transport routes done away with - our contribution to a positive environmental balance.

 

Award winning design:

And the Winner is … KURZ! The instrument panel created by our design team for the automotive interior market impressed the Red Dot Award jury. The automotive panel with its smart HMI concept won the jury over with its elegant design and capacitive sensor technology: The high-gloss surface with dead-front effect hides a multi-touch control panel with backlighting for intuitive operation. We bundled our entire know-how as a system provider to create the product:

  • Functional dashboard design: Curved component design for intuitive operation and ambient lighting in the vehicle interior, for an individually adjustable color mood and brightness (day-night design)
  • Sustainable design: Lifecycle thinking starts with the first draft. This is why we chose the sustainable IMD process for production as early as the design concept. Did you know that IMD can also breathe new life into recycled plastic materials? Let us tell you how.
  • IMD (In-Mold Decoration): Sustainable & highly efficient application of large scale, seamless, single image designs
  • FFB (Functional Foil Bonding): Sensor integration for touch functions
  • IML (In-Mold Labeling): Integration of the touchscreen sensor for the multi-touch display
  • Lamination process: For integrating a proximity sensor

No wonder that our HMI concept came out top in the competition and was rewarded with the Red Dot Award 2020 for excellent product design.

The curved dashboard design supports intuitive operation. The color mood and brightness can also be adjusted individually with the ambient lighting in the vehicle interior (day-night design).

 

Design and functionality cleverly combined

Functional surfaces delight programmers and designers alike. Gone are the days when buttons or switches put a natural limit on intelligent functions because there was simply no room left or things got confusing. Surfaces of the future are beautifully shaped and homogenous. No more annoying buttons, but smooth structures that are hard-wearing and easy to clean. They meet user demands for aesthetic design and high functionality. Consider, for example, seamless dashboards in cars and homogenous dead-front design surfaces that light up or allow control via hand movement. Transform your surfaces and displays into a smart touch screen with innovative HMI concepts from KURZ. With backlighting, touch control, and haptic effects, you can set very special actions at the interfaces between man and machine. We’ll work together to devise the right solution for your requirements. As a result, you’ll benefit from innovative concepts with surprising effects, unlimited freedom in design, and top sensor functionality. With KURZ you can integrate functional elements economically and seamlessly into your production.

How designers benefit from HMI innovation

HMI innovation brings with it enormous advantages for designers: They can conveniently develop innovative products on the drawing board without having to work hard to determine which ideas can be put into practice. Their creativity thus knows no limits. Even organic curved surfaces and three-dimensional geometries can be realized with the HMI concepts from LEONHARD KURZ. Dead-front surfaces instead of complex structures, single-frame decorations with a side length of up to 1,000 millimeters, touch or gesture control instead of knobs or switches. Customizable lighting effects instead of invariable, static appearances. Talk to our design team.

 

HMI - precision technology with simple processes

Advanced technologies are supremely important to us. One outcome of our efforts is the PolyTC® touch sensor made by KURZ subsidiary PolyIC. They are wafer-thin, very flexible, and easy to apply. By means of Functional Foil Bonding (FFB), a patent-pending embossing process, the touch sensors are fully automatically, precisely, and firmly adhered to the backs of the components. In just one operation, your surfaces become user-friendly and aesthetic technology/design miracles. Even three-dimensional geometries are possible. Extend your existing facilities as needed or let us develop the right production concept for you.

 

HMI advantages at a glance

  • Seamless and homogenous dead-front surfaces

  • Decor with sensual backlighting

  • Award winning day and night designs for the automotive industry

  • Active touch control with capacitive sensor technology

  • Strong design skills

  • Suitable for complex geometries

  • Cost advantages through high automation capability

  • Environmental process: lower CO2 consumption through efficient product and process design

The future is KURZ

Create surprising and emotional experiences with your surfaces. With increasing technical progress, customers also expect a special user experience. Rely on our expertise and creativity. We are happy to assist you with all our experience.

 

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