Most of the motivation for manufacturers to provide and explore remote-control capabilities for various machine categories hinges on safety and hazardous environments.
Manitou product manager for telescopic material handlers Steve Kiskunas likes to point out a practical, if not a little more mundane, task being performed by remote control every day—the remote operation of a rotating telehandler while the operator actually stands closer to the work.
Remote-control operation can put the machine operator elsewhere on the site (versus in the cab), giving them greater perspective and visibility of the job site.
How to retrofit remote control to an existing machine
“Contractors who have figured out how to make this work with the flow of their job site have been very pleased,” Kiskunas says. “For example, a large home builder may use the forks attachment to unload a pallet of material and place it on the third story of the build. The operator is there standing next to the truck to make sure the pallet is grabbed securely, and then they walk up to the third-story landing spot to make sure the pallet is set down right where they want it.
“This allows for greater accuracy in work and greater awareness of the job site compared to what the operator could experience in the cab,” Kiskunas says.
