Material testing in the modern era

    It is 2017 now. When we wake up in the morning, using some devices, such as alarm clocks and coffee machines, is no longer a novelty. These devices have been in everyone's home for many years. As we enter the digital age, in the past few years, mankind has made many impressive technological advances. The simple alarm clock has also changed from a traditional mechanical clock performance to an application with sleep monitoring function and can be installed inside the smartphone; the coffee machine can now be set to interact with the alarm clock intelligently, which can automatically and timely when you wake up in the morning Make a pot of coffee. As more and more users have become accustomed to the great conveniences that smart technologies and devices bring to their personal lives, we have reason to have greater expectations for the convenience in the digital age, and hope that these conveniences can surpass simple everyday individuals Equipment, but into our work and life, and even some places we haven't thought of before.

    Nowadays, when we see some daily equipment gradually enter the laboratory, it will not feel strange, especially for the material detection system. In the past many years, one of the most common development trends of the material inspection system is to always pay attention to one thing-the user.

    Large touch points and intuitive icons make the touch-based software easier to learn;

    In the past, the technical performance of a product was usually so vague that it was difficult to distinguish strictly; but now, a word that has attracted much attention-user experience, is a good opportunity to distinguish a certain product or service Open, even judge the pros and cons.

    In terms of materials and inspection systems, the most common types of new development trends today include touch screen technology, enhanced ergonomics, and Internet connectivity, which will greatly affect the user experience.

    1. Touch screen technology

    Familiar touch screen gestures are more popular with users than some desktop buttons;

     Touch screen technology has become almost ubiquitous in our lives. We used to only see them on bank ATMs and GPS positioning devices, but now, we expect all handheld devices to respond to finger sliding. This is not surprising, because touch screen technology has too many benefits.

    Compared with traditional physical buttons and switch panels, touch screens provide operators with a less frightening user interface, creating an instant sense of ease. Ease of use is another obvious beneficial feature for users. In addition, this can also enable some training organizations to obtain a higher level of convenience, such as minimizing the time required to train users and reducing the possibility of retraining users. And improve the overall efficiency of the laboratory.

    The flexibility of the touch screen mobile software platform also allows software developers to maximize their creativity, including not only the user interface (UI) that is visually appealing to users, but also some intuitive gestures and familiarity that are popular in the digital world today. Icons etc.

     In addition, the full touch environment also provides a modular, expandable and easy-to-improve space for software developers, enabling developers to further improve the user interface of users. Because the development of these interfaces is iterative and usually does not depend on hardware changes or physical control. All in all, touch screen technology provides the most ideal update and upgrade path for laboratories who want to quickly utilize the latest feature technology and spend minimal investment.

    2. Enhance ergonomics

    The software workflow designed according to ergonomics reduces repetitive operations and improves work efficiency;

    In the process of using certain material testing equipment or other equipment, the user's physical comfort is a very important and critical part of a good user experience. In order to minimize the pressure on operators, reduce the chance of injury during work, and increase the overall health of employees, researchers have invested a lot of effort. This includes improving the ergonomics of the workplace in most possible situations. When performing some common laboratory measurement tasks, minimizing repetitive and fatigue operations can reduce workplace injuries and appropriately increase the joy of work.

     An ergonomic workplace is usually more compact, similar to a cockpit-style setup, including tightly mounted operation panels and easy-to-operate tools such as mobile phones and buttons. In addition, ergonomics software (ergonomics that conform to the sequence of the human body and natural body movements) can also be optimized to minimize the pressure caused by repetitive operations (such as when running multiple repetitive inspection tasks) . The flexibility to adjust each workspace according to different users makes it more convenient to use in the laboratory. In many cases, a more ergonomic setting also helps to achieve higher work efficiency in the laboratory.

    3. Connect to the Internet

    Now, the Internet has almost covered the whole world. In recent years, the Internet has been incorporated into many devices, and even derived a professional industry term called the Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to those connected devices (sometimes labeled as "smart") , These connected devices work together, exchange information, and continuously optimize the user experience, which greatly improves work efficiency and accuracy.

    It is worth mentioning that the advantages of these devices are still constantly improving. For example, in a smart refrigerator, you can find recipes based on the menu, build a shopping list that can be viewed on a mobile device based on the data listed, and even obtain remote technical support through its interface. Similarly, the Internet connection function in modern material testing instruments can also provide more convenience and room for improvement for laboratories and their users.

    Most notably, the data and results created by the material inspection system can be easily or even automatically transferred and shared among stakeholders who have access to the network or cloud connection, thereby minimizing the need for manual transfer and consolidation. And the need for categorized data, the latter may cause manual data input errors, and may take too much time, the Internet connection function is a good solution to this problem.

    As many laboratories are moving towards digital mobile connections between sites and offices, people now need the ability to transfer and share data more easily and securely than ever before.

     The instrument connection not only allows users to easily share their test results, but also to solve their technical problems through remote assistance. In some key places, such as the automotive field and some of our most commonly used applications, remote assistance tools are becoming more and more common.

    In addition, remote assistance tools are the best way to assist in laboratory environments (especially environments with multiple devices) because they allow quick and easy communication with laboratory equipment suppliers, enabling technical support representatives to be more efficient. Quickly understand and solve the problem, so that the user can solve the problem in the least overall time.

    The remote assistance system mainly includes integrated screen sharing functions, remote diagnostic tools, and interfaces that allow users to perform routine maintenance. These can minimize the steps and time required for laboratory managers to perform tedious settings.

     The development of the electronics industry has paved the way for advancing the way we expect to interact with equipment and appliances. It is only a matter of time before this method is introduced into the material testing laboratory. With touch screen technology, enhanced ergonomics and Internet connectivity as the research focus, material testing equipment is gradually entering a modern era. As we continue to research and advance in the digital world, the future material inspection system looks very bright.