An excavator comprising a machine chassis, an excavating linkage assembly, a rotary excavating implement, and control architecture, wherein: the excavating linkage assembly comprises an excavator boom, an excavator stick, and an implement coupling; the excavating linkage assembly is configured to define a linkage assembly heading ( N̂) and to swing with, or relative to, the machine chassis about a swing axis of the excavator; the excavator stick is configured to curl relative to the excavator boom about a curl axis of the excavator; the rotary excavating implement is mechanically coupled to a terminal point of the excavator stick via the implement coupling and is configured to rotate about a rotary axis such that a leading edge of the rotary excavating implement defines an implement heading; and the control architecture comprises one or more dynamic sensors, one or more linkage assembly actuators, and one or more controllers programmed to execute machine readable instructions to generate signals that are representative of the linkage assembly heading ( N̂), a swing rate (ω S) of the excavating linkage assembly about the swing axis, and a curl rate (ω C) of the excavator stick about the curl axis, characterized in that the one or more controllers are further programmed to execute instructions to generate a signal representing a directional heading ( Ĝ) of the terminal point of the excavator stick based on the linkage assembly heading ( N̂), the swing rate (ω S) of the excavating linkage assembly, and the curl rate (ω C) of the excavator stick, and rotate the rotary excavating implement about the rotary axis such that the implement heading approximates the directional heading ( Ĝ). the excavating linkage assembly comprises an excavator boom, an excavator stick, and an implement coupling; the excavating linkage assembly is configured to define a linkage assembly heading ( N̂) and to swing with, or relative to, the machine chassis about a swing axis of the excavator; the excavator stick is configured to curl relative to the excavator boom about a curl axis of the excavator; the rotary excavating implement is mechanically coupled to a terminal point of the excavator stick via the implement coupling and is configured to rotate about a rotary axis such that a leading edge of the rotary excavating implement defines an implement heading; and the control architecture comprises one or more dynamic sensors, one or more linkage assembly actuators, and one or more controllers programmed to execute machine readable instructions to generate signals that are representative of the linkage assembly heading ( N̂), a swing rate (ω S) of the excavating linkage assembly about the swing axis, and a curl rate (ω C) of the excavator stick about the curl axis, characterized in that the one or more controllers are further programmed to execute instructions to generate a signal representing a directional heading ( Ĝ) of the terminal point of the excavator stick based on the linkage assembly heading ( N̂), the swing rate (ω S) of the excavating linkage assembly, and the curl rate (ω C) of the excavator stick, and rotate the rotary excavating implement about the rotary axis such that the implement heading approximates the directional heading ( Ĝ). generate signals that are representative of the linkage assembly heading ( N̂), a swing rate (ω S) of the excavating linkage assembly about the swing axis, and a curl rate (ω C) of the excavator stick about the curl axis, characterized in that the one or more controllers are further programmed to execute instructions to generate a signal representing a directional heading ( Ĝ) of the terminal point of the excavator stick based on the linkage assembly heading ( N̂), the swing rate (ω S) of the excavating linkage assembly, and the curl rate (ω C) of the excavator stick, and rotate the rotary excavating implement about the rotary axis such that the implement heading approximates the directional heading ( Ĝ).