A control panel should respond when an input is intended—and, if possible, not respond when water, dirt, gloves, vibrations, or other environmental factors come into play.
What sounds simple can quickly become a challenge when developing industrial human-machine interfaces. That’s because false triggers aren’t just a nuisance for the user. They can create additional risks during development and validation, complicate the acceptance process, and, in the worst case, lead to customer complaints in the field.
This is exactly where Agnostic Hybrid comes in.
The technology combines capacitive button detection with pressure-based Agnostic Touch technology. The result is an input solution that combines touch with deliberate actuation.
Capacitive touch technology detects when a user touches a defined area. In many applications, this is entirely sufficient.
But what if a touch alone isn’t supposed to trigger a function?
Agnostic Hybrid supplements capacitive detection with a force sensor. This allows two distinct interaction steps to be distinguished from one another:
The capacitive sensors detect which function the user selects.
Only a deliberate press with a defined force confirms the input.
A simple touch function thus becomes a two-step operation logic: preselection and confirmation.
This additional step can be crucial, especially for critical or high-stakes functions.
Moisture on the control panel. A glove. Dirt. Vibrations from a machine.
In everyday industrial settings, user interfaces are exposed to conditions that bear little resemblance to the controlled environment of a smartphone.
The deliberate Force Touch confirmation helps reduce unintended activations under such environmental conditions. A function does not have to respond to the very first detected contact but can require a deliberate action.
This makes the operating logic more robust and can simultaneously reduce project and field risks. Especially under challenging boundary conditions, Agnostic Hybrid thus also supports a more stable validation of the operating concept.
Not every function of an HMI is equally important.
When navigating through a menu, an accidental touch can usually be quickly corrected. The situation is different for functions such as Start, Stop, Reset, or Apply Parameters.
Here, two-step activation offers a clear advantage.
This two-step process could look like this:
This allows the user to first select a function and then deliberately confirm it. This enables the development of a clear interaction logic without necessarily requiring additional physical controls.
The user interface remains minimal—input becomes more controlled.
As the density of functions increases, another challenge arises: active button areas must be reliably distinguished from one another.
After all, the more compact a control panel becomes, the more important the question becomes:
Which button did the user actually intend to press?
Agnostic Hybrid enables clearly defined active areas. This ensures precise operation while simultaneously supporting the ergonomic design of the HMI.
This applies, for example, to:
This makes it possible to design control panels that look high-quality and are designed for mass production, even when installation space is limited.
The principle is relatively simple to explain.
The capacitive touch sensor is located beneath the user interface. It is supplemented by a force sensor on the circuit board that detects intentional actuation.
Depending on the application, the design may consist of the following components, for example:
This combines two types of information within a single input system:
Where does the input take place?
and
Was the function intentionally activated?
It is precisely this combination that makes Agnostic Hybrid an attractive option for sophisticated user interface concepts.
The real added value of Agnostic Hybrid therefore does not lie in simply combining two sensor technologies.
What matters is the new operating logic that results from this.
Development teams can define more precisely when a function should actually be triggered. This enables robust HMI concepts for applications in which environmental influences, user errors, or safety-critical actions must be taken into account.
At the same time, the technology can be tailored to the specific application early in the development process.
Input technology can never be considered in isolation from the application.
Should the control panel work while wearing gloves? What IP or IK requirements apply? What EMC influences should be expected? What environmental conditions must the product withstand over its service life? How compact does the user interface need to be? And which functions require explicit confirmation?
Such questions should not be answered only after the design is already finalized.
At Algra, development therefore begins with the requirements of the specific application. From defining the constraints through initial prototypes and mock-ups to series integration, the operating concept can be developed and validated collaboratively.
Agnostic Hybrid is particularly useful when traditional touch operation alone does not provide the desired level of safety and unambiguity.
The combination of capacitive sensing and Force Touch makes it possible to detect touches, intentionally confirm inputs, and precisely distinguish between active button areas.
The result is not simply a touch system that responds more sensitively—but an HMI that can respond more precisely to the user’s actual intent.
Talk to our engineering specialists. Together, we’ll review your requirements and determine whether Agnostic Hybrid is the right solution for your application—from the initial design-in to series integration.