The controller is sending control signals to the computer which controls the motors. The controller itself is basically irrelevant. It’s not actually doing the control, the motor controllers are.
Using off the shelf stuff like this is also common since it’s extremely well tested and usually very physically robust.
This is a "this submersible seems like it was cobbled together out of whatever was lying around" story, a "hmm, that's funny/interesting/worrying" story from a source that has a big video-gamer audience, and a little bit a "this thing could have run out of batteries when they needed to turn" story. It's almost certainly not the cause of their issues but it does give people pause.
I wouldn't be worried about using a COTS part that people are familiar with, and I agree that's the "juicy" part of this story that gets reactions unfairly, but is it really unreasonable for people to look askance at the apparently sole method of controlling the vehicle relying on Bluetooth and AAs?
Logitech tests products under these conditions? Sea water?
I've had considerable experience with Logitech products and I can't imagine employing a consumer grade Logitech controller for any life-critical purpose. It's built-to-a-price e-waste from which you hope to get a couple years of service under near ideal indoor residential conditions.
While this probably wasn't the part that failed, it shows an incredible lack of judgment.
People think they’re technical enough to understand everything and want their hot takes heard.
So the conclusion could be that if the controller is a bad / cheap, everything else is also similar, hence the reason for this situation.
But from what I can tell, the pressure vessel + multiple levels of redundant safeties for surfacing all seem pretty well-done. The fact that the CEO and sub designer is down there tells me this wasn't some entirely sloppy cost-cutting solution they hobbled together.
Also, one of the "passengers" they call "Mr Titanic" is also down there - so not a clueless person looking for an adrenaline rush as some other comment mentioned.
These people understand the risks first-hand and have deemed it acceptable to go on it - game controller or not.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_by_wire
I do get what you are saying, and there is a "feel" difference when driving a car with a mechanical linkage. But I wouldn't go as far to say that makes the DBW input irrelevant. Ergonomics, materials and tactility could even be seen as more significant in these cases
I work in a robotics field and have an academic background in it as well. The controller and the other related information we know (that its input is mapped to keypresses, that in a previous test a controller failed and the only solution was troubleshooting of the controller, that a thruster was installed backwards in a previous test) is absolutely relevant. I will add that you can also see what are basic office monitors and the windows taskbar in the images. Yes, motor controllers are involved somewhere, and I don't know all of the details, but all of this strongly implies to me that a commercial PC is the core system, with this controller connected via some keymapping software, and motor controllers probably connected by usb-serial converters or something similar.
All of that looks like an undergrad project. It's common and acceptable for a student project's first test in a swimming pool. By the time humans are inside and depth is concerned, formal design and validation of something more robust should be seen. You'd want to see something much more robust with redundancies. At a very bare minimum I would expect something like an industrial or marine joystick and industrial or marine display connected to PLC. That's like a few thousand dollars and still really falls short of what I would be comfortable with. But at least it could be rigorously tested and doesn't depend on windows, drivers, keymapping software and who-knows-what in terms of development environment, libraries, compilers etc.
It's irrelevant until it fails with no backup mechanism when maneuvers are needed.
My only gripe with this is that the controller has a battery in it, which may cause a fire and smoke but those are well commercialized items made to be used by kids, so I find it unlikely to have design flaws to cause that and would expect to be quite a robust piece of equipment.
I would be very surprised if the incident has anything to do with the controller.