Designing Octolux: A Smart HMI Testing Platform

Overview

Octolux is a universal HMI system designed for rapid industrial machine testing. It allows users to test hardware with a built-in touchscreen interface and configure system logic using a dedicated PC app. While testing, NTX evaluates data to offer either a compatible pre-designed control board or deliver a custom-built one. This drama

Duration

12 Months

Tools

Figma, Photoshop, Qt, Crank

My Role

UX Researcher, UX/UI Designer

Define

The Octolux Testing Tool project began from a recurring challenge faced by both our internal teams and external customers: engineers struggled to begin testing early due to the lack of a reliable, universal HMI platform. At NTX, I had already been managing a separate project with similar needs, where inconsistent logic transfer between the display and control board caused delays, miscommunication, and missing documentation. Those learnings highlighted the urgent need for a scalable, out-of-the-box HMI system that could be reused, customized, and deployed in minutes. From there, I began shaping the vision for Octolux, a system that separates logic creation and UI execution, accommodates multiple industrial applications, and simplifies both testing and configuration.

Problem

Engineers faced delays during early product testing due to a lack of HMI systems. Testing was done manually, with no automatic data logging, which introduced errors and inefficiencies. This often led to confusion about what functionality was needed in a custom board, prolonging the development timeline.

Project Goal: The goal of the Octolux Testing Tool project was to create a universal, easy-to-use testing system for industrial machines—one that allowed engineers to test, monitor, and configure hardware without delays or manual workarounds. We aimed to reduce time-to-test, eliminate the need for specialized coding knowledge, and provide both internal teams and customers with a reusable HMI platform backed by a flexible PC logic builder. By streamlining the testing and setup phase, the Octolux system helps speed up product development and supports customized hardware solutions faster than traditional processes.

Target Users

Machine and Control Engineers: Responsible for designing and validating machines during early development. These users need direct access to diagnostics and clear test results.
QA Technicians: Ensure machine components function as expected by running pre-deployment test cycles and verifying sensors.
Maintenance Technicians: Use Octolux for routine checks and troubleshooting in the field.
Stakeholders and Customers: Visit demo rooms or evaluate embedded systems for integration into their products. Their primary concern is performance assurance and customization readiness.

Research

Market & Competitor Gap

While many companies offer HMI hardware, most lack a prebuilt, universal solution focused on testing and customization.
Current testing setups often involve time-consuming PC setups, external equipment, or programming knowledge.
There’s no all-in-one platform with both logic configuration and embedded UI testing specifically designed for industrial customers.

To synthesize insights from interviews with engineers and stakeholders, I created an affinity diagram to cluster recurring pain points and patterns. Key themes that emerged included the need for faster setup, a visual no-code logic builder, real-time sensor visibility, and built-in safety features. Each insight was tagged by role (electrical, software, QA) to highlight differing priorities and overlaps across disciplines. This method helped distill raw feedback into actionable design principles and guided the core feature set for both the PC app and HMI interface.

Conducted interviews with engineers across electrical, software, and mechanical domains to understand needs and limitations.
Learned that engineers preferred linear, direct UIs with all key data visible at once.
Identified differences in user mindset, electrical engineers focused on logic, while software engineers were concerned with data flexibility and logic file compatibility.
Since this was a new concept, I gathered logic requirements from multiple industries (e.g., ovens, kiosks, gates) to make the system scalable.

User Needs

Business Goals

Reduce setup and development time for testing phases
Offer a platform compatible with a variety of industrial machines
Improve sales process with ready-to-offer or customizable boards

Design Requirements

Based on research and system limitations, we separated the platform into two applications: a PC logic builder and a dedicated HMI interface.
The PC application is used to visually create logic and export it as a JSON file. This tool simplifies logic development without the need for coding.
The HMI system reads and displays the uploaded JSON logic, allowing users to interact with machine functions directly.
This separation was crucial due to HMI limitations such as memory/storage, screen size, and UI responsiveness. It also simplified development and allowed each interface to focus on its strengths.

A universal embedded UI was created with core features like testing, monitoring, and diagnostics, customized dynamically by the uploaded logic.
The result is a streamlined experience that is easier for customers to use, reduces setup complexity, and improves processing reliability on the control board.

Success Metrics

Prototype

Process

Designed user flows and early concepts in Miro and Figma
Built initial UI in Crank for embedded testing, then transitioned to Qt for final design
Created a scalable layout system that supports any number of sensors or outputs (from 10 to 30+)
Designed icons, navigation, and status visuals with clarity and modularity in mind
Prototyped both PC logic builder and embedded display UI with shared logic language

Challenges

No existing reference tools for this type of system
Had to manually determine how .gde logic files could be structured and visualized without code
Needed to ensure consistency between PC tool and HMI interface logic interpretation
Design had to balance engineer logic expectations with a modern, user-friendly interface

Needed to ensure consistency between PC tool and HMI interface logic interpretation
Design had to balance engineer logic expectations with a modern, user-friendly interface

Mid Fidelity

Testing

During an early usability test, I printed and cropped interface frames and asked engineers to arrange them in the order they believed made sense—like assembling a puzzle. This exercise revealed how differently each role approached logic flow and interface interaction. It was through this session that I realized the need to separate the system into two focused experiences: one PC application for logic creation, and one HMI interface for machine control and diagnostics.

High fidelity

Octolux combines a PC-based logic builder with an embedded HMI interface to create a seamless testing experience. Users can configure machine logic visually on the PC app, export it as a JSON file, and upload it to the HMI screen. The HMI then displays a dynamic, test-ready interface showing sensor data, diagnostics, manual controls, and real-time test results, making Octolux a fully modular, plug-and-play testing platform for industrial machines.

HMI UI

PC UI

System Design

System Design & Branding

UI theme uses dark mode with high contrast for visibility in industrial environments
Accent colors and icons enhance usability without overwhelming users
Clear labels combined with icons support universal comprehension
UI includes built-in help pages with step-by-step visuals for key tasks

Impact & Outcomes:

Enabled customers to test machines instantly upon arrival
Reduced the need for technical support during setup
Improved internal documentation by auto-saving logic and test logs
Supported multiple machine types (ovens, dispensers, gates, etc.) from a single platform

My Learning

Simplicity in design often requires the most strategic thinking, especially when users range from software engineers to mechanical techs
Working without comparable benchmarks forces a deeper level of cross-functional collaboration
Understanding engineers' logic-focused mindset helped me tailor the UI to their mental model
Auto-saving, clear state feedback, and safety features (e.g., auto shutoff) are crucial in industrial environments
Early design decisions—like keeping layout modular and scalable—allowed flexibility when supporting different machines later

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