FEATURE | REMOTE DEVICES
Crane manufacturers have dived headlong into the Industry 4.0 revolution and embraced remote control technologies.
happening? Are there operational gains to made? And how does this interplay with durability and safety? These devices are at the centre of highly regulated industries after all.
A remote control historical revolution Remote devices have a storied history. That story tangibly began over 125 years ago when polymath Nikola Tesla showcased a radio- controlled boat in New York. Over the course of two following world wars, various experiments with wireless control for other travel and military uses resulted in moving to the circuit and chip- based radio devices that are recognised today. Consumer use followed: popularly with television remotes and then as technology, and attendant standardisation, improved over the course of 50 years, notably with WiFi, homes found themselves as hubs of remote-controlled technology. Some are even voice-activated. Despite consumer use, the utilisation of innovative radio control technology in industry has historically lagged. One argument is that industrial environments are highly regulated from a safety perspective and won’t push forward as readily. As recently as 2015, Jim Clark, a director at Schneider Electric, wrote that in the industry there can be restrictive approaches to safety and operability, with an overfocus on wiring. “We vehemently demand that machine operators be fixed to a single point of a machine and not be mobile.”
78 Winter 2025 |
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Indeed, occupational safety and health standards have stacked up for well over 100 years – there are other local country standards as well as rules from the International Electrotechnical Commission – meaning any remote control use, crane or otherwise, has to have top-tier reliability, data has to be transferred from machine to device without loss, and there can’t be interference with the device. It also means adhering to Safety Integrity Level standards (such as SIL2), having an emergency stop button on the device or making sure there is compliance with B30.2 ASME. Safety has to be central, be it in maritime or heavy industry. Yet, as Clark laid out in his blog: “At the same time we expect them [device operators] to be more efficient.” Of course, the crane industry eventually
interlinked with remote devices. In fact, cranes and hoists were some of the first industrial applications of remote controls circa the turn of the millennium, though often in a proprietary rather than industry- wide manner. And more recent radio frequency standardisation (namely Wi-Fi) and the development of 5G and Wi-Fi 6 have backstopped reliability requirements needed for further implementation. Indeed, it’s such reliability that Bud Shipley, business development manager who oversees machine control and automation at Florida-based wireless device sellers Tele Radio Group, explains is at the centre of any development or implementation of a device. “Safety,” he says, “is our primary concern.” Indeed, in Shipley’s view, even basic functionality has to be met with safety for remote devices. And
that’s before considering blue-sky thinking-style advancements for remote devices tomorrow. As he says, this is because of the highly regulated environments that remote device suppliers work with. “We design for safety, then add functionality... so any new way of working [AI or automation] would have to come up against that,” he adds.
A safe, expanding present While Clark argues that regulation can be a synonym for constricted progress, Shipley sees safety as the necessary base for functionality and then future innovation. His employer, Tele Radio, has existed for 75 years. They first supplied wireless controls for the railroad industry, he explains, which meant a keen focus on safety as they innovated and expanded. Such consistent, safe product delivery, he intimates, has hardly been constrictive. Tele Radio is used by a wide range of companies. Nortek Air Solutions uses their dust-proof, waterproof, hyper-adaptable devices for its EOT cranes. And the pioneering Munck Cranes, which make 1,000 cranes a year, and were the first crane manufacturer to drop the cable control for the remote control, also use Tele Radio products. The remote control industry is truly global, with safety and functionality at its core. Autec, which provides industrial radio remote controls, are partnered in Japan and has connections to the South African mining and automation sectors. Scanreco, which has bases across Asia, Africa, the US and Europe providing radio remote controls,
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