"So we worked with the military to socialize and standardize the concept. "By 2006, games like Halo were dominant in the military," Phelps said.
iRobot Director of North American Products Tom Phelps told Business Insider in 2013 that they found great success replacing their IED disposal robot's original "puck-like controller" with the more familiar design of a standard Xbox controller. One major advantage of these adapted game-control systems, according to those involved in implementing them, is user familiarity.
And a military partnership with Roomba-maker iRobot led to a line of bomb-disposal robots controlled by an Xbox controller. In the UK, an "adapted Xbox controller" was used to remotely drive an off-road 4x4 in situations where improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were a concern. Game controllers are also useful for remotely controlling complex military equipment in situations that could be unsafe for an on-site human pilot. And in 2018, the USS Colorado attack submarine was handing Navy sailors an Xbox controller to operate its periscope-like photonic masts. In 2014, the US Navy was promoting its use of "a video game-like controller" in a laser weapon prototype, for example. And NASA has used an Xbox Kinect as an interface to control complex rovers like the six-limbed ATHLETE (All-Terrain Hex-Limbed Extra-Terrestrial Explorer).īut international militaries have shown some of the most avid and continued interest in adapting game-control interfaces for decidedly non-entertainment uses.
MRI analysis firm BodyViz, for instance, told the BBC that an Xbox controller provided a much more intuitive way to “rotate, pan, zoom or fly-through a patient's virtual anatomy” than the previously standard mouse-and-keyboard interface. But OceanGate is far from the first outfit to use off-the-shelf or slightly modified gaming control hardware to power expensive heavy machinery well outside of the gaming realm. Further Reading Submarine missing near Titanic used a $30 Logitech gamepad for steering This weekend's tragic disappearance of an OceanGate Expeditions tourist submersible has led to a fair share of bemused coverage focused on the company's apparent use of a $30 Logitech F710 wireless PC game controller for its interface.
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