New Controller Makes Heavy Machinery Intuitive

MIT researchers built a new excavator controller that replaces the traditional dual-joystick setup with a small model excavator arm operators move directly with their own arm, mapping those movements to the real machine or a training simulator. The intuitive, arm-based control aims to cut the training time typically needed to learn excavator operation. Future versions are planned to add haptic feedback to further improve operator feel.

Source: https://hackaday.com/2026/08/26/new-controller-makes-heavy-machinery-intuitive. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.