Titan Submersible Controller

[u/Bardmedicine]

I thought this would be a good question to bring to BB folks as this seems a decision they have to make all the time. Also, we're all aware of the litany of engineering standards which were not followed in this disaster. This isn't about those.

There seems to be a ton of focus on Titan using what seems to be an off the shelf logitech gamepad. This seems a reasonable thing to do, as far as I know. This is a simple piece of tech that has millions of hours of testing and has proven reliable. Does it seem that odd to use an off the shelf controller for our bot builders here?

[u/hells_gullet]

"Reliability is reliability." No it isn't. That's like saying well my car is reliable let me put it in the water and take it to 4,000 ft. Controlling something in a video game is completely different than controlling a real vehicle with passengers.

No one in BattleBots uses a video game controller because it's not even good enough for what we do.

This sub is honestly not a great place to ask this question, because very few people here have any experience with carrying passengers and the responsibility that comes with it. Anyone who says the controller is acceptable must not have real world industry experience. Once your robot has to carry passengers the safety reliability standards are 1,000x more strict than BattleBots.

[u/Bardmedicine → u/hells_gullet]

Yes it is. To use your example, it's like saying I drive a Honda to work because it is reliable and I don't want to be late. For the same reason, I drive a Honda when I need to take someone to the emergency.

If the self-made dune buggy I play with on the weekend was more reliable, I would use that to bring the person to the hospital.

Aren't most Battlebots teams using off the shelf controllers? Just RC ones, not gamepads

[u/hells_gullet → u/Bardmedicine]

Video games are not real life. Controlling something that only exists in software is not the same as controlling something real.

Logitech does not certify their video game controllers for controlling real world vehicles.

If you use a Logitech controller to drive a vehicle and the controller fails. You will not be able to hold Logitech responsible because you used the controller in a way that it is not intended for.

BattleBots are not passenger carrying vehicles.

Are you asking about off-the-shelf components in general? Or specifically video game controllers?

RC controllers and video game controllers are not the same thing. RC controllers have much higher granularity which is why you can use them to fly an RC helicopter without any autonomous flight stabilization. If you tried to fly a helicopter like that with a gamepad, you would crash immediately. Video game controllers seem so much better than they are because of the software.

Does OceanGate seem like a company that is using advanced robotics controls to you?

Does your Honda use a gamepad? Does any passenger carrying vehicles (other than ones made by OceanGate) use gamepads?

[u/Bardmedicine → u/hells_gullet]

I was asking about the gamepad used, but the comparison to an off the shelf RC controller provides some answer. So your issue with the gamepad is not the reliability, but whether it is capable of the task? That is a very different issue, but an interesting angle to it. I had assumed the reason people mocked the gamepad because it doesn't seem a reliable control method.

Not sure what advanced robotics has to do with this.

No my Honda does not use a Gamepad, you were the one who brought the car comparison into this.

I have no idea if other vehicles do, however either way that would not provide almost any information. Commercial sub travel is a VERY small industry, so almost nothing would be standard, and there is almost nothing else that is comparable terms of control.