US Navy swaps $38,000 periscope joysticks for $30 Xbox controllers (2017)

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/u-s-navy-swapping-38000-periscope-joysticks-30-xbox-controllers-high-tech-submarines/

by Brajeshwar • 3 years ago

23 16 3 years ago

mdmglr• 3 years ago

Could Airbus replace the side stick with a $100 pc gaming joystick as well?

Is there a follow up article to this? Perhaps longevity, dependability and precision of the encoders is what sets $30 from $38k apart. Or maybe not.

swagasaurus-rex• 3 years ago

Suddenly the durability of x-box controlers has become an issue of national security

thyrsus• 3 years ago

I speculate national security concerns contributed a great deal to that $38,000 cost. How many servers with SSP and POAM documents were needed for its design to classified requirements, sysadmins with security clearances, and for classified manufacturing and delivery? I don't know, maybe submarine components are available at the navy surplus store. Let me know if you find any :-)

dragontamer3• 3 years ago

The new hotness in 2023-era gaming is Hall Effect joysticks, which apparently have infinite life (or at least, infinite compared to the old potentiometer joysticks of just a few years ago)

It makes sense that video gamers will push UI to their limits: video gamers need the highest precision, lowest latency, greatest stability, lowest cost and best feel.

I mean, military also needs these things, but without cost as an issue. So it's video gamers who would push the envelope.

toomuchtodo2• 3 years ago

Would you happen to have a link to the state of the art for this kind of controller?

FormerBandmate• 3 years ago

There's also a lot more gamers than drone pilots. Supply and demand

Would be interesting to see how that applies to airline pilots

starkparker• 3 years ago

Rock Band guitars used hall-effect switches on the strum bar, and even used only as a switch I can assure you from experience that while the magnets might have effectively longer lifespans than the rest of the components, they only work as well as, well, the rest of the components.

A hall-effect sensor on a mass-manufactured gamepad or joystick is still only as good as the gaskets, diaphragms, and bearings. If a pot for positioning is dying on a stick before the buttons, throttles/trim levers, etc., that seems to be an indictment of the pot's quality more than anything. For instance on the Switch joycons, hall-effect sensors in theory might've reduced stick drift, but if oil and crumbs and junk are falling into the electronics because the diaphragm sucks, the sensor's the least of your problems.

Hall-effect sensors are great for DIY sticks, though, just for the granularity you get for free and the ability to use off-the-shelf magnets for any config. Even then I still see a lot of pots in DIY designs just for the relative simplicity of the signal.

lsllc• 3 years ago

Until that ring starts flashing during final approach and you're scrambling for some new AAs!

standing_user• 3 years ago

Now they could do 360 noscopes on russian submarines

Grazester• 3 years ago

What about stick drift when the potentiometers starts wearing? The should use something with a hall effect stick. Wish there was an update on this.

Edit:// I see someone else mentioned this before me.

moonchrome• 3 years ago

What about stick drift when the potentiometers starts wearing?

Throw it away and replace before it becomes an issue ?

esel2k• 3 years ago

The typical answer in regulated industries is that you need to certify/verify these devices for their intended use. So I highly doubt that this was done by Microsoft but who knows. Where I am coming from - medical device industry - you wouldn’t pass QA/Regulators without the manufacturers paper and all required certifications (Electromagnetic tests, board/electronic descriptions, risk assessment etc).

Is this not necessary for the military?

US Navy swaps $38,000 periscope joysticks for $30 Xbox controllers (2017)

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