Patent ID: 8607686

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling rotational movement of a turret of a vehicle comprising: a controller that generates at least one control signal for controlled operation of the turret in a controlled mode of operation; a hand-actuatable input device configured to provide input signals to the controller in response to operator actuation of the input device, in the controlled mode of operation the controller generates control signals corresponding to input signals received at the controller from the hand-actuatable input device; a plurality of fail-safe elements in communication with the controller wherein the controller monitors the status of the fail-safe elements to determine if a manual mode of operation has been initiated based on the positioning of one or more of the plurality of fail-safe elements; and wherein the controller disables controlled operation of the turret of the vehicle in response to the controller determining that the manual mode of operation has been initiated based on the positioning of one or more of the fail-safe elements, wherein the controller disables controlled operation of the turret in the manual mode of operation by ignoring input signals received at the controller from the hand-actuatable input device such that control signals corresponding to the input signals are not generated and controlled operation of the turret does not occur.