Hacker News Reader

Comment by aezart | Hacker News Reader

The fact that it's wireless is the scariest part to me. What if it runs out of battery? What if it desyncs?

They have multiple of them on board and can swap in a new one if there's an issue. The focus on the controller is misplaced to me. Game controllers are well made and better suited for the job than custom hardware. It's just the association with videogames that makes it seem odd.

If they used $30 logitech keyboard as well, would anyone question that?

Pros of having a wireless controller: freedom of movement (in this case in a very cramped environment) and not having as much of a tangled cord situation.

Cons: desynchronization issues, transmitter goes bad, receiver goes bad, interference, batteries run up, someone forgets to pack batteries, someone forgets to check if the backup batteries are still good.

WHAT were they thinking??

Hmmm, from what I've read subs can get damp because of temperature and pressure changes. All of what you said combined with condensation.

this are literal life or death situations we are talking about, not some office drama when someone spilled coffee on keyboard and went home

The controller indicates poor engineering & safety culture. It simply isn't fit for life critical purpose.

And if someone drains the spares and forgets to charge them? I doubt they have pre-sink checks where they plug in all the batteries.

It’s stupid because it adds needless risk and another failure point for no benefit.

Stick drift would be really bad.

It's not a Nintendo controller.

Joycons arent anything compared to pre 2010 3rd party console controllers in terms of stick drift. I had ones that had button drift too

emergency stop button and release of ballast to gently float to surface?

The emergency stop button is a version 2.0 feature.

I agree. Imagine if they die because they forgot to change batteries.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com