The Titanic director has made 33 dives to the shipwreck and visited ocean depths in a submersible he built himself. He compares OceanGate to the Titanic in that both ignored safety warnings.

  • ikantolol
    link
    fedilink
    132 years ago

    feels like they probably knew that in their heart the moment they see the $30 Logitech controller…

    • Kabe
      link
      31
      edit-2
      2 years ago

      I know the controller seems corny, but it turns out that even the US Navy have used Xbox controllers.

      The real red flags here were the carbon fiber hull and the fact that the Titan wasn’t even certified or properly tested to ensure it could survive the stress of repeated dives to such extreme depths.

      It’s kinda insane that OceanGate got away with taking paying tourists down in that thing for as long as they did.

      • Zana
        link
        fedilink
        102 years ago

        To be fair the Xbox controllers are probably more reliable.

      • PabloDiscobar
        link
        fedilink
        82 years ago

        Cmdr. Reed Koepp told USA Today at the time the controllers were cost-effective and came with an added bonus — young sailors already knew how to handle them.

        At least two major weapons systems that the US military is focusing on utilize Xbox-style controllers, Task and Purpose reported in March.

        Girguis said making fun of the gaming controller in the submersible was appealing because it’s “an easy target” but that a lot of undersea vessels “use similar controllers.”

        It’s a question of quality control. Military grade equipment is not the same as consumer grade equipment. That’s why we have grade in the first place.

        • RoboRay
          link
          fedilink
          35
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          “Military grade” is not a statement of high-quality… it’s a statement of specified minimum capabilities and characteristics to satisfy a contract. It’s quite common for off the shelf commercial equipment, even stuff targeted at home consumers, to meet or exceed MIL-STDs.

          • PabloDiscobar
            link
            fedilink
            2
            edit-2
            2 years ago

            What do you think quality means? Go pick some IC’s and you will see that the best quality is kept for military grade operations like operations in very low temperature for example. An IC designed with a high swing in operational temperature will require much more thinking than a consumer IC.

            • RoboRay
              link
              fedilink
              15
              edit-2
              2 years ago

              Thanks for providing an example supporting what I said.

              • PabloDiscobar
                link
                fedilink
                0
                edit-2
                2 years ago

                Cool…I’m glad that you understand better what quality means. Now if you have a different definition of quality that’s a different story.

                  • PabloDiscobar
                    link
                    fedilink
                    02 years ago

                    Well, sorry to disappoint you but if a circuit endures higher temperature swings than another then it is of a better quality than the other one. This attribute is part of the quantification of quality. But feel free to explain yourself.

      • meldroc
        link
        fedilink
        22 years ago

        Yeah, it wasn’t the video game controller that failed…

      • kestrel7
        link
        fedilink
        22 years ago

        I believe the Navy uses xbox controllers for controlling periscopes, not the entire submarine.

    • static
      link
      fedilink
      272 years ago

      Using a game controller is not that unusual.
      but it was wireless, that is bad.

        • TimeSquirrel
          link
          fedilink
          102 years ago

          The thrusters on the outside. The goal was to minimize hull penetrations for cabling and things.

          • PabloDiscobar
            link
            fedilink
            62 years ago

            Thank you, so the signal went through the water a little bit. We had a struggle about it in a different thread.

            • Flaky_Fish69
              link
              fedilink
              12 years ago

              Probably not, actually. carbon fiber is opaque to blue tooth. Even a single ply carbon shell is enough to block it. My DLG r/c airplane uses an arramid section for the antenna.

        • SpacemanSpiffOP
          link
          fedilink
          42 years ago

          I’ve heard of this. Out of curiosity (because I don’t actually know), do you know if the controllers used in military applications are literally “off the shelf” or if they’re “Xbox-like”, which is what most descriptions about them say.

          In other words, I suspect the military(s) using these type of controllers are not just ordering them off Amazon and using them as-is, whereas it sounds like that’s exactly what OceanGate did.