Zero tactile feedback, expensive and difficult-to-repair controls on a machine operated in a dirty environment where people usually wear gloves? I wonder how many of the people who designed that have actually used an excavator or talked to someone who does, or even just visited a construction site to experience the environment.

There's plenty of discussions on how touchscreens in cars are awful, but those who design these abominations are so out of touch with reality that they don't seem to realise that. I suspect the same applies here.