Coordinated control paradigm for hydraulic excavator with haptic device

The usability of heavy construction equipment is strongly affected by the design of their human-machine interfaces. Lack of confidence with the current input devices is due to their counterintuitive design and the absence of loop feedback between the end effector and human hands. In the last few years, many researchers have been demonstrated that haptic devices, joined with a suitable design of the control levers, could help to face this problem. In this paper, an innovative control logic for hydraulic excavators has been proposed based on the inverse kinematic of the arms of the hydraulic excavator. The aim of this control is to reduce the cognitive effort of the users if compared with the one required by the current control systems. The implementation of this control logic has been based on previous research projects, technical documentations and interviews with experts. The proposed control logic has been evaluated by means of experimental activities with a virtual simulator which test the usability and efficiency of the proposed solution.