MIT’s New Arm-Like Controller Could Cut Years Off Excavator Training

MIT engineers have designed a more intuitive way to operate excavators, replacing the traditional joysticks that can take years to master. The new controller, called the World-Space Interface, is shaped like a miniature excavator arm and bucket. Operators simply move their own arm and hand, and a digital excavator mirrors those motions on an immersive six-screen display, cutting out the mental translation joysticks require. In week-long training trials, novices using the new interface performed as well as experts from day one, while joystick-trained novices stayed behind experts throughout. The team, led by Hermano Krebs and developed with Sumitomo Heavy Industries, is now adding haptic feedback so operators can feel the weight of what they’re digging, and envisions the design used both in physical excavator cabs and remote teleoperation setups.