--- title: "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 source_url: https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-engineers-design-better-controller-operating-construction-diggers-0820 type: article source: "MIT News" published: 2026-08-20T04:08:26.219Z updated: 2026-08-20T04:09:42.346Z tags: ["robotics", "mit"] reading_time: 6 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: 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: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Launch HN: Flywheel \(YC S25\) – Waymo for Excavators](https://daily.dev/posts/launch-hn-flywheel-yc-s25-waymo-for-excavators-qh1ujq0hu) · Hacker News · 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)