OceanGate is a company that offers expeditions to encounter the wreck of the Titanic, which lies nearly 4000 m deep off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada.
To achieve this, the company created its submarine from scratch. Titan in order to descend to the level of the wreckage. Unfortunately, OceanGate lost contact with its craft two hours into the descent with five people on board, the pilot and four passengers having paid $250,000 for this expedition.
A Logitech controller at 40 € as a rudder
OceanGate’s expertise in carrying out such expeditions to great depths is currently being questioned, particularly with regard to the capacity of the Titan to withstand such conditions. A detail has also caught the attention of specialists: the controls used to steer the submarine consist of a Logitech F710 controller marketed for ten years for nearly 40 €. OceanGate has even 3D printed extensions like drone joysticks to gain precision during maneuvers.
The relatively basic Logitech controller uses Sony’s DualShock layout with two analog sticks in the center. It was probably the use of a wireless receiver and two AA batteries that convinced OceanGate to use it as a rudder.
This is not the first time that consumer technological objects have been diverted from their initial use. In 2018, we learned that the American army was going to equip its submarines with Xbox 360 controllers to pilot the optronic masts which replace the periscopes.
More recently, the Ukrainian military uses Steam Decks to pilot their machine guns.