For decades, heavy machinery has become bigger, smarter and more powerful. But the way operators interact with these machines has remained largely unchanged. Swing Invent Holdings founder Geoff Davis asks whether it’s time to rethink the relationship between people and the machines they operate.
Heavy machinery has come a long way. Today’s machines are larger, more powerful and more technologically advanced than the equipment of previous generations. As an industry, we’ve invested heavily in improving hydraulics, automation, telemetry, component monitoring and overall machine performance.
But there is one part of the system that hasn’t evolved at quite the same pace: the way the operator interacts with the machine.
For much of the industry, the joystick remains the primary interface between human and machine. It is familiar. It is established. It is accepted. And perhaps that is exactly why we don’t question it.
But what if we did? What if we stopped assuming that the way we’ve always controlled heavy machinery is automatically the best way?
That is the question that led to the development of SwingPedal.
The Question Started in the Field
Swing Invent Holdings wasn’t born from a technology lab or a corporate strategy session. It started with experience.
After years spent operating and maintaining heavy machinery, including draglines, Geoff developed a practical understanding of everything that happens inside the cab and around the machine. He understood the complexity of the equipment. He understood the demands placed on operators. And he understood that the relationship between the person and the machine is critical to everything that happens next.
The operator is constantly interpreting information, making decisions and controlling equipment worth millions of dollars. Yet the conversation around machine innovation has often focused almost exclusively on the machine itself:
- How can we make it more powerful?
- More automated?
- More efficient?
- More connected?
Far less attention has been given to a simpler question: how can we make the interaction between the operator and the machine better?
For Geoff, that question became impossible to ignore.
When “That’s How We’ve Always Done It” Becomes the Problem
Heavy industry is built on experience. That experience is valuable — it’s what allows complex operations to run safely and efficiently in challenging environments.
But experience can also create assumptions. When a particular way of doing something has been used for decades, it can become invisible. It becomes the standard. And eventually, we stop asking whether there is a better way.
Joystick control is a good example of this. It is an incredibly effective interface, fundamental to modern heavy machinery, and it isn’t going away. But does that mean every aspect of machine control needs to be managed through the operator’s hands?
That’s a different question. And it’s one worth asking.
Because operators aren’t machines. They aren’t all the same size, shape or physical build. They have different experiences, different working styles and different demands placed on them throughout a shift. So why should we assume that one method of control is always the right answer?
The Operator Is the Most Important Asset
At Swing Invent Holdings, we believe the operator is the most important asset on the machine. Not because the operator is a risk to be managed, but because they are the person responsible for managing the machine. They are the connection between the equipment, the environment and the work being performed.
The machine may be worth millions of dollars. But without the person operating it, it doesn’t make decisions. It doesn’t interpret changing conditions. It doesn’t respond to what is happening around it. The operator does.
That means the relationship between the human and the machine deserves the same level of innovation and attention as the machine itself. This is the thinking behind SIH and it’s why the company is challenging the assumption that machine control has to be centred entirely around the joystick.
Rethinking the Role of the Foot Pedal
Pedals are not new technology. In fact, that’s part of the problem.
Traditional pedal systems have often been viewed as cumbersome, difficult to configure and inconvenient to install. In many machines, controls were positioned beneath the floor, creating practical challenges for both operators and maintenance teams. Over time, pedal technology developed a reputation as something from the past.
But perhaps the problem was never the concept. Perhaps it was the design.
Geoff’s experience led him to consider a different approach. What if foot control could be redesigned for today’s machines and today’s operators? What if it could work alongside existing joystick controls, rather than replacing them? What if the operator could move between hand and foot control depending on the task and circumstances?
This thinking led to the development of SwingPedal.
The concept is simple: don’t replace the joystick — give the operator another option.
Sometimes Innovation Is About Asking a Simpler Question
The heavy machinery industry has never been afraid of innovation. But innovation doesn’t always mean adding more technology. Sometimes, it means looking at something familiar and asking whether we’ve been doing it the best way possible.
SwingPedal is based on a simple idea: distribute machine control across the operator’s hands and feet. It challenges the assumption that all control needs to sit within the joystick, and it raises a bigger question about the future of human-machine interaction.
If we are continuing to invest in making machines smarter, more powerful and more capable, shouldn’t we also be thinking about how those machines work with the people operating them?
At SIH, we believe the answer is yes.
From Experience to Evidence
The next step is to take what has been observed in the field and understand it through data. SIH is working with research partners to investigate the relationship between operators, fatigue, machine control and human-machine interaction.
The goal isn’t simply to say that there is a better way. The goal is to understand why. To collect the evidence. To test the assumptions. And to give the industry the information it needs to make informed decisions about the future of machine control.
Because experience can identify the question. But data helps us prove the answer.
The Question We Should Be Asking
The future of heavy machinery won’t be defined by technology alone. It will be defined by how effectively that technology works with the people who use it.
SwingPedal began with one inventor asking whether the industry had stopped questioning how machines are controlled. Today, SIH is taking that question further.
Because perhaps the next step in heavy machinery innovation isn’t about building a machine that does more. Perhaps it’s about creating a better relationship between the machine and the person operating it.
The operator is the most important asset. So maybe it’s time we started designing machines with that in mind.
The question isn’t whether we’ve always done it this way.
The question is whether we should continue to.