Retail

Garz & Fricke Group develops human machine interface for remote touch control

Image courtesy of Garz & Fricke GmbH.

November 24, 2020

Garz & Fricke GmbH, based in Hamburg, Germany, has introduced a remote touch system which allows users to operate a self-service device using a smartphone and a QR code applied as a sticker in the machine or shown on its display instead of touching the touchscreen, according to a press release.

The RTS allows a user's smartphone to operate the controls of a vending machine via Wi-Fi or via the smartphone module. The user scans a QR code on the machine using their smartphone.

A web app is used for the actual operation of the machine and a special graphical user interface opens in the web browser. In the most universal version, the interface does not display the surface of the machine, but registers touches like a touchpad and forwards them directly to the vending machine. A graphical user interface opens the web browser and registers the touches like a touchpad.

"Via this control channel, the inputs are transferred from the smartphone screen to the machine itself without having to touch the touchscreen of the machine," Sven Liess, managing director of application developer e-GITS, part of the Garz & Fricke Group, said in the release.

For this purpose, the user's smartphone displays a black area in the web browser — the "touch-field" for machine interaction. A small arrow or a hand symbol in the machine's display area indicates where the pointer is on the device, allowing the user to intuitively control and click the display buttons.

"The user does not even have to look at his smartphone, but can concentrate on the screen of the machine," Liess said. "He wirelessly controls the movement of the pointer intuitively, just like a touchpad on a notebook. Only without cables, but wireless."

Garz & Fricke Group also developed a customizable interface that displays the screen content of the vending machine on the smartphone in a mobile device compatible format. The contents of the human machine interface are given an equivalent — for example, a labeled button — in the web interface on the smartphone. If the user clicks on this button, it corresponds to the equivalent button on the machine.

Garz & Fricke Group has established a U.S. headquarters in Edina, Minnesota.