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Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

arstechnica.com

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Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#71

Post by idop »

rwmj wrote: post #46

There's a BBC documentary from last year which I just watched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpz9zw and honestly a lot of it seems quite amateur hour. One of the steering motors was fitted backwards. When they discovered this, at the bottom of the ocean and a few hundred feet from Titanic, the solution they used was to hold the gamepad at right angles to compensate. That time they proceeded with the tour and mad…

So apparently this OceanGate company is a VC-funded startup or some such founded "to make underwater exploration cheaper and accessible to private citizens" (Wikipedia quote). Tells me everything I need to know about how this all came to be.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#73

Post by taylorbuley »

If the device into which you are plugging that steering device is a regular old PC, as it seems to be here, then something like a Logitech seems like exactly what one might recommend as the USB peripheral. Redundancy plans become easier, not harder, with consumer-grade hardware that can be swapped out during failure.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#74

Post by BEEdwards »

tredre3 wrote: post #16
srmarm wrote: post #3

The US Navy uses an Xbox 360 controller in active service [0] Mass market has a lot of R&D to leverage so it makes sense. Nothing to say this is the cause of the fault and probably going to be more reliable than something hand rolled. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/19/16333376/us-navy-military...

I personally believe using mass market makes sense. I don't understand the criticism I've seen on this website for using off the shelf controllers or camping lights (what do you expect, an LED strip magically engineered by a large aeronautics firm specifically for the sub? and what would that change?). That being said, the difference between a Microsoft controller and a third party is that Microsoft very certainly di…

>Microsoft very certainly did a tons of reliability and durability testing on their controllers (and it shows).

my xbox elite controller didn't even last a year (usb port died)... now tbf the x button on the replacement razer controller i got also died in the same time frame.

to be more fair though the wired xbox 360 controller i got with my original xbox back in ~2007 has never let me down.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#75

Post by mkl95 »

soumyadeb wrote: post #54
rwmj wrote: post #46

There's a BBC documentary from last year which I just watched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpz9zw and honestly a lot of it seems quite amateur hour. One of the steering motors was fitted backwards. When they discovered this, at the bottom of the ocean and a few hundred feet from Titanic, the solution they used was to hold the gamepad at right angles to compensate. That time they proceeded with the tour and mad…

"BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues".

iPlayer is usually VPN-friendly.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#76

Post by mrguyorama »

ethbr0 wrote: post #53
mh- wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, I'd estimate that Microsoft has sold something like 200 million Xbox controllers.

To be fair, Microsoft also sold a lot of Xboxes that were misdesigned from a thermal perspective, and thus red ringed themselves.

The thermals weren't misdesigned exactly, but the solder was below expected performance in several key attributes. It is not the only product that got screwed by new leadfree solder being not the best at the time.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#78

Post by vicktour »

JDW1023 wrote: post #17

> According to the BBC, the entire sub is bolted shut from the outside, so even if the vessel surfaces, the occupants cannot escape without outside assistance and could suffocate within the capsule. Why is the submarine bolted shut from the outside?

The location of the door really doesn't allow it to be opened while its in the water. I would guess, as I have no evidence other than an untrained eye, that the window would either be fully underwater or at least partially underwater. It would sink if it was opened. Not to mention that they would need to equalize the pressure inside the sub to even push it open.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#79

Post by mysterydip »

idop wrote: post #71
rwmj wrote: post #46

There's a BBC documentary from last year which I just watched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpz9zw and honestly a lot of it seems quite amateur hour. One of the steering motors was fitted backwards. When they discovered this, at the bottom of the ocean and a few hundred feet from Titanic, the solution they used was to hold the gamepad at right angles to compensate. That time they proceeded with the tour and mad…

So apparently this OceanGate company is a VC-funded startup or some such founded "to make underwater exploration cheaper and accessible to private citizens" (Wikipedia quote). Tells me everything I need to know about how this all came to be.

"move fast and break things" may not be the best mantra for such an operation.

Re: Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering

#80

Post by rwmj »

soumyadeb wrote: post #54
rwmj wrote: post #46

There's a BBC documentary from last year which I just watched: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fpz9zw and honestly a lot of it seems quite amateur hour. One of the steering motors was fitted backwards. When they discovered this, at the bottom of the ocean and a few hundred feet from Titanic, the solution they used was to hold the gamepad at right angles to compensate. That time they proceeded with the tour and mad…

"BBC iPlayer only works in the UK. Sorry, it’s due to rights issues".

Yeah I'm sorry about that. Maybe someone could download it and host it somewhere (which would be contrary to the license, but possibly in the public interest in this case).
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