Traditionally the remote control of cranes has been mainly for the control of smaller machines. Mini cranes, for example, used to be walk-behind or controlled by a cable-attached pendant. Most now have radio control as standard, or at least as an option. The new Jekko SPX532.2 launched in September 2025, for example, has an onboard seven-inch IP66 touchscreen display but also comes with radio remote control that gives users complete management of all crane functions.
Loader cranes, too, were one of the first, small, crane types to benefit from the enhanced visibility and safety that remote control could bring. They save the operator – who is usually a one-man band of driver, rigger and unloader in one – from having to continually move between the crane control levers to the jib-end hook and back again to rig and unrig the cargo; with remote control they can do all those tasks conveniently from beside the load delivery point.
Moving up in crane size, selferecting cranes also tend to remote control. Potain’s HUP and IGO range of self-erectors have entire remote control. The IGO T-99, to take an example, has a waistlevel wireless control console (these are colloquially known by the unglamorous name of ‘belly boxes’) with buttons and a 2.4” colour display screen that does more than just operate the crane once it is in position.
Before that stage is reached its ‘smart set-up software’ sets up the crane and erects the mast remotely, with instructions displayed on the screen that guide the operator step by step. It will, for example, remind them about things like checking that sufficient ballast has been added.
The lack of room for an onboard operator seen with mini-cranes and self erectors has underpinned the development of remote control for these crane types. There is a trend, however, for remote control on larger cranes – including full-sized tower cranes.
Nor need the crane be static; all terrain cranes and crawler cranes are also finding advantages in utilising remote control.
Safety and efficiencies
Two reasons for the spread of remote control are commonly cited. One is safety. The operator in a crane’s cab is at least a boom length away from the hook and the load so their view is hardly closeup.
If they are standing on the ground, near to the load they are about to raise or lower, they may have a much better view of both hook and load and can control the operation much more precisely.
Second, they can also act from that position as a rigger, hooking the load onto the crane. Turning a two-man task into a one-man task offers clear economies.
With the second, and now third, generation of its Liccon control system equipment manufacturer Liebherr unified the remote control of its all terrain and crawler ranges. As far back as 2018, at its 2018 customer days in Ehingen, Liebherr presented a prototype for controlling its LTC 1050-3.1 by remote. Salgert was one of the first crane companies to order.
Liebherr’s system utilises a BTT remote control unit that accompanies Liccon as standard.
This means that all Liebherr mobile canes – all-terrain and crawlers – can now be operated remotely, and the same control system can be used for cranes between 30 and 3000 tonnes, from the small LTM 1030-2.1 to the gigantic LR 13000.
BTT stands for Bluetooth Terminal. It is a hand-held device with buttons and a screen; when not in use it stows conveniently by the door of the crane so the operator does not need to climb up to the cab to retrieve it.
With it, all crane movements can be controlled from outside the cab with clear lines of sight and close to the load.
The BTT makes it possible to level the crane fully automatically, start and stop the engine, and adjust the engine speed remotely.
The telescopic boom, hoist winches and the axle suspension on the crane can all be controlled using it.
Liebherr says that it was particularly designed for onsite setting-up of the crane.
Engine start/stop function, engine speed regulation, electronic angle inclination display, and automatic support levelling are all provided as standard.
On larger cranes more functions are controllable from it, such as attaching the ballast or installing the telescopic boom.
The operator can leave their cab and position themself so that all this work can be carried out in direct line of sight, quickly, safely and conveniently.
Hook-on help
A particular use comes in preparing an all-terrain crane for stowing before driving away at the end of the task in hand.
The crane hook needs to be secured to the front bumper before taking the crane on the road. The front bumper eye for this cannot be seen from the driver’s cab, so trying to achieve this by manipulating the boom and winch from the normal driving position is not easy.
A mirror is a partial solution but gives a poor view; the alternative is a second person outside the cab to help. But with the BTT in hand the operator himself can stand on the ground, with a clear view of hook and bumper and perform the appropriate crane movements and hook-on themself.
On Liebherr all terrain cranes, such as the LTC 1050-3.1 compact and the larger LTM 1100-5.3 and LTM 1110-5.2, it is possible to control the crane chassis remotely – in other words, to drive the crane around a narrow or restricted site using the better view obtainable from a position outside the cab.
Additional components, known as RemoteDrive, are required for this option, but it also works using exactly the same hardware, the BTT and BTT-E control consoles.
Because Liebherr uses a globally licensed frequency range (ISM band 2.4 GHz), for its remotes the system can be used in every country in the world.
Sennebogen’s entire range of crawler cranes come with remote control as an option. The controller is a bellybox worn by the operator and connected to the crane by radio link, with a range up to 100 metres.
With their telescopic boom crawlers the entire crane can be moved and driven around the construction site using the radio remote control. Sennebogen says its customers use remote control for the greater safety provided by better visibility.
The company also highlights the freedom the operator has to position themselves exactly where the load needs to go, even if this is at height, as well as the efficiency gains seen by freeing the operator to also carry out rigging duties.
Forthcoming legislation
Tower cranes also can be controlled remotely. Yet another advantage comes in here. Working a tower crane can be a lonely job: the operator is stuck all day up in their cab.
It gives a good view, certainly, though always a distant one; but creature comforts are limited, there is little room to stretch your legs, and it can take a 30-minute climb just to get to work each morning.
Getting down in the event of a medical emergency would be problematic and even tea breaks are taken alone. It is not a tempting career prospect for many young people. Attracting more beginners into the profession has been one motivation for remote control of tower cranes: it takes away the isolation of the job.
In 2024 Israeli company Skyline Cockpit introduced its remote system. It shifts control of a tower crane to a portable cabin on the ground.
Multiple cameras on the crane display their output on multiple screens in the cabin; there are cameras on, and perspectives from, the trolley winch, the lift winch, and the now-unoccupied cabin, giving clear views of the hook and load line. Not only is operator comfort increased, so are their sightlines, says Skyline.
Software interlinks these visuals to present a unified, intuitive 160-degree panoramic display. Control levers are exactly as they would be at the tower top, though with more information to work from: sensors add information on wind direction, exact cargo landing and take-off points and the like; and that data can be shared with the entire construction team.
The first use of it in the UK – or indeed anywhere outside its native Israel – was by Winvic last February (2025) at Birmingham Crown Plaza, a 33-storey student accommodation development.
Winvic reported a 10% increase in efficiency from using the system (we covered this in our January 2025 issue: ( https://content. yudu.com/web/442ay/0A444jv/ Cranes0125-Pros/html/index. html?page=38&origin=reader ).
Forthcoming legislation
Looking forwards, new safety legislation is poised to further disseminate the use of remote control. Hong Kong, a city of skyscrapers and therefore of tower cranes, this month (January 2026) brought in a new law mandating that at least one tower crane on every government construction project must be remotely controlled from the ground.
The regulation follows a successful demonstration by Skyline in which a tower crane in Israel was operated from a control cabin in Hong Kong, 9,000 kilometres away. ‘From Tokyo to London, Hong Kong to the Helsinki, we’re seeing a global shift in how tower cranes are operated and managed,’ the company claims on its website.
In the wake of the legislation the Hong Kong Labour Department has issued safety requirements for such cranes. Among others the measures include the following:
■ The Control System provider must obtain approval from the relevant tower crane manufacturer or its duly authorised agent;
■ The control system itself, whether wireless or wired, can be operated stably, reliably and appropriately on the site; and when operating in remotecontrol mode, the latency of signal transmission should not exceed its design limit and induce unsafe lifting operations.
■ The Control System should be equipped with a fail-safe system: If the design limit of latency of signal transmission is exceeded or the power supply is interrupted, the tower crane must at once cease its operation automatically; and the operation of the tower crane should be allowed to be switched from the remote-control mode to the conventional on-board operation mode at any time.
■ The operating cabin of the Control System should be wellprotected to prevent operator from distraction during the operation: strict control of access to operating cabin and prohibition of unauthorised entry should also be fully implemented.
These seem sensible requirements and ones that, in general, should apply to all remotely-controlled cranes, and other machinery. In any event, the regulations, and the Hong Kong requirement for remote control show that it is no longer a novelty or luxury on construction sites. It will very soon become standard, as one more tool in the lifting sector repertoire.
INNOVATION CONTINUES FROM SPECIALIST RADIO CONTROL MANUFACTURERS
Some crane companies produce their own radio control systems in-house; others use equipment from specialist proprietary manufacturers. And the sector’s thriving…
Italian manufacturer of radio remote controls IMET launched two new transmitters, the Zeus3 and the Thor3, at the 2025 GIS tradeshow in Italy.
The Zeus3 is designed for complex applications; it is confi gurable with up to six single-axis joysticks or two dual-axis joysticks. The Thor3 can have up to 18 single-axis joysticks or fi ve dual-axis ones on the main panel. With both systems auxiliary controls can be added. They can be specifi ed with various buttons, potentiometers, toggle switches or rotary selectors to suite a wide range of applications.
IMET also celebrated its o_ cial CANopen Stack compliance certifi cation, which confi rms IMET’s adherence to the CiA 310 V4.2 standard, reinforcing its commitment to interoperability and robust system integration.
Autec also displayed at GIS showing its portable JN line and the Curve JQ line which is capable of integrating up to three dualaxis joysticks or six single-axis levers, with actuators potentiometers, encoders and LED displays progrmmable via Codesys or JMobile.
“We have chosen widely adopted and accessible programming languages to ensure maximum fl exibility for our customers, even during updates and maintenance,” says Fabio Pimpinicchio, head of sales Italy at Autec. Its radio systems operate on both 870 MHz (which is standard in Europe) and 915 MHz (used in the USA, Australia and Canada), and has frequency hopping technology.
The frequencies at which remote systems operate are important. For work environments with unknown, or high, numbers of radio users clashes between users of different machines are possible.
HBC-Radiomatic also offers various automatic frequency management methods for this. As well as the integrated method on DECT radio modules and the integrated Adaptive Frequency Hopping for 2.4-GHz applications, it also offers an in-house solution. Automatic Frequency Management technology uses more than 100 transmission channels and continuously switches between them at high speed.
The operator can, therefore, work without interruption at any time, even under demanding radio conditions.
Akerstoms offers its Remotus range of robust radio-controlled products for safety critical industrial applications such as cranes.
The waist transmitters have dual CPUs, and an active stop function – which means the receiver will stop in less than 100ms.
Transmitters with displays can show function data and system alarms. Remotus is ordinarily used for cranes, vehicles, machinery, harbour equipment and other equipment with high safety requirements.
The system can control multiple cranes from one transmitter or several transmitters can control one crane, i.e. tandem operation. Remotus can also be tailored to specifi c needs. The systems are designed to withstand extreme conditions and can be used for a wide range of applications – from industrial cranes and lifting devices to construction and earthmoving machinery, plus specialised vehicles.
TELE RADIO INDIA EXPANDS FACILITY AND REMOTE CONTROL STOCK IN INDIA
Radio remote-control systems specialist Tele Radio India Pvt has moved to a new 290 square-metre facility in Pune, reflecting the company’s rapid expansion in one of the world’s fastest-growing industrial markets.
Tele Radio India was established in May 2020. Prior to that, its products were available through partners and distributors, but 2021 marked the establishment of a dedicated local operation with direct sales, service, and support.
The latest relocation is the company’s third expansion, having grown exponentially from an original 12 square-metre site. Six members of an ever-growing team will be located in Pune.
The new facility strengthens the company’s subsidiary as a strategic regional hub, serving customers across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives, with faster delivery, enhanced service, and greater customisation capabilities.
“Moving into a bigger o_ ce is a clear sign that our customers trust in our solutions for their most critical applications,” said Sharad Role, managing director at Tele Radio India. “I have been [managing director] since 2020; in that time, we have grown from a small, start-up-style o_ ce into a full facility with expanded customer support and operational capability. India is in a strong growth phase; it is becoming a global manufacturing hub. Industrial radio remote controls have moved beyond early adoption and are now becoming a standard safety and productivity solution. Surrounding markets are at earlier stages of the same growth curve.”
The new facility is designed to facilitate sales, service, and warehousing, in addition to local customisations and assembly. It already houses stock and spare parts, to further support faster deliveries and quicker service turnaround. The building is located in a modern corporate district with excellent connectivity to highways and other infrastructure, positioning Tele Radio India closer to its core customer base in cranes, material handling, construction, mining, and mobile hydraulics.
Surrounded by major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), global IT companies, and engineering fi rms, the Tele Radio India hopes the site will supports closer collaboration and faster on-site service.
Dedicated meeting, training, and testing areas enable the Tele Radio India team to demonstrate systems and share best practices with partners and end users.
“The expansion also represents continued alignment with the industries we serve,” Role added. “Customers are demanding faster responses and shorter lead times – they don’t want to wait weeks for critical controls.
“That is aligned with rising compliance expectations as our marketplace matures, meaning supporting documentation and certifi cations are now more important than ever.”
As part of the Allgon Group, Tele Radio India benefi ts from a global research and development (R&D) footprint, a wide product portfolio, and a strong focus on safety and certifi cation, including Equipment Type Approval (ETA) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) approvals for the Indian market.
“We are investing ahead of the curve,” said Role. “This move is not the end of our journey – it lays the foundation for our next phase of expansion.”
Tele Radio India is currently recruiting for various sales, business development, and operations roles.
