--- title: MIT engineers design a better controller for operating... description: MIT researchers led by Hermano Krebs developed a new excavator training interface called the World-Space Interface, which replaces traditional joysticks with a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: MIT engineers design a better controller for operating construction diggers | daily.dev og:description: MIT researchers led by Hermano Krebs developed a new excavator training interface called the World-Space Interface, which replaces traditional joysticks with a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/cyr5ihfDU.png og:image:alt: MIT engineers design a better controller for operating construction diggers og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # MIT engineers design a better controller for operating construction diggers **[MIT News](https://daily.dev/sources/mit)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary MIT researchers led by Hermano Krebs developed a new excavator training interface called the World-Space Interface, which replaces traditional joysticks with a mechanical arm resembling the excavator's own arm and bucket. Paired with an immersive six-screen virtual simulation, the device lets operators mimic digging motions directly rather than learning the mental mapping joysticks require. In a week-long study across 15 virtual excavation environments, novices using the new interface performed as well as experts from day one, while joystick-trained novices remained behind experts even after training. The work, done with Sumitomo Heavy Industries, was published in the Journal of Computing and Civil Engineering, and the team is now adding haptic feedback to the arm. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is MIT's World-Space Interface for controlling excavators? It is a training and control system that replaces traditional joysticks with a miniature mechanical arm resembling an excavator's own arm and bucket. Operators move their real arm and the device translates that motion to a digital excavator shown on an immersive six-screen display, removing the mental mapping joystick control normally requires. Developed with Sumitomo Heavy Industries, it let novices match expert performance from the first training session. _Engineers exploring intuitive machine interfaces can follow developments like this one on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [New Controller Makes Heavy Machinery Intuitive](https://daily.dev/posts/new-controller-makes-heavy-machinery-intuitive-seackwha8) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Vine-inspired robot fingers can reach out and grab someone](https://daily.dev/posts/vine-inspired-robot-fingers-can-reach-out-and-grab-someone-h4hrg0o0f) · MIT Technology Review · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [MIT’s ultrasound wristband tracks every finger movement and lets you control a robot hand in real time](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-s-ultrasound-wristband-tracks-every-finger-movement-and-lets-you-control-a-robot-hand-in-real-ti-hsbdqbuww) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Robotically assembled building blocks could make construction more efficient and sustainable](https://daily.dev/posts/robotically-assembled-building-blocks-could-make-construction-more-efficient-and-sustainable-ruj4y2m6n) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Scientists built an AI co-pilot for prosthetic bionic hands](https://daily.dev/posts/scientists-built-an-ai-co-pilot-for-prosthetic-bionic-hands-r4fdxwiru) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics), [#mit](https://daily.dev/tags/mit) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"MIT engineers design a better controller for operating construction diggers","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu"},"datePublished":"2026-08-20T04:08:26.219Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T08:37:07.202Z","description":"MIT researchers led by Hermano Krebs developed a new excavator training interface called the World-Space Interface, which replaces traditional joysticks with a...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/69f3e7e9205747747a85387c8a1ca089?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/69f3e7e9205747747a85387c8a1ca089?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"MIT News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"MIT News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/881e20a40aa44b12ba4bd27f5c14289d","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"robotics,mit","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MIT News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/mit"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"MIT engineers design a better controller for operating construction diggers"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-a-better-controller-for-operating-construction-diggers-cyr5ihfdu#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What is MIT's World-Space Interface for controlling excavators?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It is a training and control system that replaces traditional joysticks with a miniature mechanical arm resembling an excavator's own arm and bucket. Operators move their real arm and the device translates that motion to a digital excavator shown on an immersive six-screen display, removing the mental mapping joystick control normally requires. Developed with Sumitomo Heavy Industries, it let novices match expert performance from the first training session. Engineers exploring intuitive machine interfaces can follow developments like this one on daily.dev."}}]} ```