The Effect of Operator Orientation in Crane Control

It is often very difficult for humans to control cranes due to their inherent oscillatory nature and sluggish response. Tasks are made even harder when the operator moves around the workspace and changes his/her orientation. Traditionally, the driving axes on cranes have been independent of operator orientation and location. When the operators change the direction they are facing, their “Forward” direction is not consistent with “Forward” on the crane control interface. This paper describes two novel ways to reduce this problem and shows their effectiveness in a human operator study.