I’ve seen a video of US Navy using an Xbox controller (arguably for experimental weapon iirc but still). If it just works why overengineer it? I would be more concerned about that hull (scuttlebutt says it was just carbon over titanium frame, not titanium hull overlayed with carbon). However I guess we will have to wait until they find the boat to know the reason for failure.

[–] CarbonOtter@lemmy.one 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly. Making the controls yourself isn't necessarily better, as long as the rudders and engines are engineered properly. Some seperate (emergency) control might be a good idea, in case the Bluetooth fails. Just to get the submarine back to the surface.

The submarine is a one-off experimental one that isn't certified, hasn't been used a lot and dives deeper than almost any other submarine. That's enough alarm bells for me. Whatever they use to control the vessel is irrelevant to me.

[–] atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

Read their blog post about the their subs aren't classed

https://oceangate.com/news-and-media/blog/2019-0221-why-titan-is-not-classed.html

I ran out of red flags halfway through.

Classing may be effective at filtering out unsatisfactory designers and builders, but the established standards do little to weed out subpar vessel operators

[–] Macallan@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

The Navy started using Xbox controllers for the periscope on submarines.