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[-] AceBonobo@lemmy.world 206 points 3 months ago

I think Logitech should take responsibility and give them a $30 voucher

[-] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 194 points 3 months ago

“best we can offer is a replacement. but you will need to return the original”

[-] DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 19 points 3 months ago

Maybe a $10 Uber Eats gift card?

[-] PlasticExistence@lemmy.world 9 points 2 months ago

Expires on August 1st, 2024

[-] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 171 points 3 months ago

Since the story came out people fixated on "lol he used a shitty gaming controller" but really that is one of the least sketchy design choices in the entire rig. Why reinvent the wheel and make a custom set of controls that are realistically another huge expense and potential failure point, when off the shelf solutions exist for that component?

The corners that were cut are the ones involving the viewport/nose adhesion to the ships frame, and the structural integrity of the carbon fiber hull itself. They had test data suggesting it was a bad idea to engage in repeated dives with their design, and an even worse idea to operate at the depths they chose. They decided to ignore that.

[-] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 69 points 3 months ago

That doesn't explain why they used the wireless version of that Logitech instead of wired to control the thing they were literally inside.

[-] Greg@lemmy.ca 41 points 3 months ago

To be fair, they're under water and sharks have been known to chew through electrical cables

[-] Tricky@lemmy.world 27 points 3 months ago

I suspect the wired cabling would be to control components inside the sub, not outside. And I say that only because it's unlikely that wireless signals would penetrate the sub walls.

[-] Greg@lemmy.ca 66 points 2 months ago

Yes but with this sub the water was on the inside too

[-] SaltySalamander@fedia.io 9 points 2 months ago

Too dense to pick up on the obvious sarcasm, I see.

[-] jdeath@lemm.ee 16 points 2 months ago

i think you’re supposed to say wooosh or something like that

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[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 40 points 2 months ago

From what I can tell the lawsuit (which is against Ocean Gate, not Logitech) is really just calling out the controller as another example of willfully negligent behaviour.

You're certainly correct that the actual cause of the failure was the carbon fibre hull. Just a terrible idea on so many levels. Carbon fibre, by its nature, is good under tension, not compression. It was never going to function well as a pressure vessel underwater.

There were a litany of terrible decisions made by Ocean Gate, such as not tethering the sub, because it was cheaper to launch it from a towed raft, but none of those bad decisions ultimately mattered once that pressure vessel failed. Those people were dead so fast that, to quote Scott Manley, "You go from being biology to being physics."

[-] buttfarts@lemy.lol 10 points 2 months ago

You can always bring a second controller for redundancy. I would bet money the game controller had zero impact on the failure and I hate all the shade being thrown on this innocent controller.

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[-] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 2 months ago

Having tried to use those, my main issue was the 710 is an unreliable 2.4ghz wireless, when bluetooth controllers all worked much better for me. I couldn't get the 710 to have reliable button presses from more than like 4 feet from my pc, so I ended up just using the 310 wired. Maybe there isn't enough interference on the sub for that to be an issue.

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[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 14 points 2 months ago

Wasnt the carbon fiber body rated for like, 1/3rd the depth that they dove to?

It was very NASA O-Ring vibes. "We did it once, so we can do it every time" at least until they cant anymore, and that cant is usually accompanied by regret and poor innocent people being salsafied.

[-] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 15 points 2 months ago

Carbon fiber wasn't rated for any depth. It's shit for compression and you don't need light materials for a submersible.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 8 points 2 months ago

No, you're right.. I think it was the winshield bubble that was rated for 1/3rd the depth? I know something was rated for a far shallower depth than what the dumbass CEO made the sub repeatedly go to.

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[-] deranger@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Using commercial off the shelf technology without proper testing and certification is absolutely cutting corners. See: Kaprun disaster.

What kind of fire rating did those COTS parts throughout the interior of the vessel have? What kind of redundancy existed? Would you use a Logitech controller for a spacecraft? The requirements of deep sea submersibles and spacecraft are quite similar. Would any of the submersible certification agencies approved this? I think not.

I see the Logitech controller, the carbon fiber hull, and so many other decisions he made as symptoms of the same corner cutting, “move fast and break things” mentality he had.

[-] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Using commercial off the shelf technology without proper testing and certification is absolutely cutting corners. See: Kaprun disaster.

I just read the wikipedia article; thanks for mentioning it.

I'm not sure it's a good example of your point, though. Notably:

the cause was the failure, overheating and ignition of a fan heater in the conductor's compartments which was not designed for use in a moving vehicle.

The onboard electric power, hydraulic braking systems, and fan heaters intended for domestic use increased the likelihood of fire.

The fan heater is the only off-the-shelf technology listed here, and there's no suggestion that it was part of the train's design. It seems likely that a train conductor brought it on board to keep the compartment warm through the workday. Still a bad idea in a train, especially on a 30° slope, but not an example of the designers cutting corners.

Edit:

Thanks to others for linking photos and a report (in German) that show how the heater was installed. It was clearly not a case of a conductor just setting the heater on the floor, but the installation still looks very much out of place. Perhaps corner-cutting was involved, but this doesn't look like something done by the train designers. Even an expensive industrial heater seems like it would be an extraordinarily bad idea in that location, right up against high-pressure hydraulic oil lines. Does someone have the details behind it? It looks more likely a (very foolish) modification made by someone else, like maybe the train operators.

For anyone else following this, those hydraulic oil lines that the heater was nearly touching were apparently pressurized at 190 bar, which I think is about 2700 pounds per square inch.

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[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 132 points 3 months ago

🤦‍♂️

If anything that controller was the most solidly built thing on that entire sub.

[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 80 points 2 months ago

"Rush, who saw himself as an innovator like "Steve Jobs or Elon Musk," the complaint says, once told Pogue, "At some point, safety just is pure waste." Rush thought he had found a lighter way to build subs."

This really summarizes the mindset of most second+ generation rich people. Because this guy lived with a lot of inherited money and power all his life, he assumed that everything that comes out of his brain must be the ultimate truth. So much so that without even a single reservation he happily took his son with him to that journey knowing full well that the submarine was probably violating several critical safety requirements that he deemed unnecessary. We are basically being ruled by such people folks.

[-] Neon@lemmy.world 35 points 2 months ago

I've worked with plenty poor people who thought the exact same thing.

The only difference is that he actually had the resources to realize his stupid ideas

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[-] MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 months ago

Super accurate comment.

[-] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 52 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I wouldn't use a wireless controller playing subnautica. This is on the company for using sub par tech. Next time use first party wired!

[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 20 points 3 months ago

sub par tech

Nice pun

[-] skozzii@lemmy.ca 43 points 2 months ago

Is it because everything else on the sub was ordered from aliexpress and pieced together? This was the only part from a legitimate manufacturer?

[-] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 42 points 3 months ago

The complaint does not allege that the Logitech wireless controller, the carbon fiber construction, Titan's innovative porthole, or the use of disparate materials with differing expansion/compression coefficients—four main areas of criticism—were individually responsible for the sub's implosion. But it does suggest that these systems could have together contributed to a "daisy chain of failures of multiple improperly designed or constructed parts or systems."

[-] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 43 points 3 months ago

Titan was an implosion, so the pressure hull failed at some point, we just don't know what. While the Logitech controller is indicative of the decision making process, it's one component we can comprehensively rule out as causing the failure.

[-] Toribor@corndog.social 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Shouldn't have put the 'implode' action on the shoulder button. It was only a matter of time before he triggered it on accident.

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[-] Emmie@lemm.ee 40 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

This controller kept me in rocket league gold for months. I put it on eBay and some shmuck said they need it in a submarine but are on a budget so max can do is three fiddy. I just wanted to get rid of the thing

[-] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 39 points 2 months ago

It's true, I bought one thinking it was cheaper and easier than a PS5 controller, and my couch imploded.

[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

Yeah but was JD Vance piloting the couch? Because that's basically a mercy suicide imho.

[-] uriel238 33 points 2 months ago

Behind the Bastards did a pretty great two-parter on Stockton Rush, and how a) he completely shit the bed while ignoring all the super-deep-exploration experts, and b) how nature was totally telegraphing to Rush and OceanGate that this submersible is totally not doing it and will end in a spectacular tragedy, only no one else will be down there to watch but the fishes.

The controller wasn't a particularly weak link, though for safety's sake I'd want there to be a redundant spare, and it set up for plug and play. But higher on my priority list would be things like integrity monitors and an emergency way to open the sub from the inside (the hatch was bolted from the outside, and there were no emergency exit measures.

[-] hexdream@lemmy.world 28 points 2 months ago

To be fair, they all exited the vehicle pretty quickly at the time without it needing to be unbolted from the outside. Experts... pfft.

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[-] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 28 points 2 months ago

Oh yeah, the controller is clearly the one a fault here......

I mean, they clearly made this for an submersible, one made of carbon fibre specifically.

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[-] Clbull@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

At this point filing a multi-million dollar lawsuit against OceanGate will be like trying to extract blood from a stone.

What tangible assets do OceanGate really have left to pay Nargeolet's estate? Their CEO (the maverick aerospace engineer who thought he was 'revolutionizing' the submarine industry by cutting corners) is dead, their only active submersible imploded, their reputation has been tainted by the fact that they've been selling billionaires what is effectively a carbon fiber coffin waiting to implode, and any angel investors have probably pulled out harder than a porn star on the verge of climax.

Even then, they may not even have a case. IANAL but in an age where every single tech and gaming company has been pushing through class action waivers and forced arbitration clauses in their Terms of Service, I get the feeling that any attempts at suing OceanGate will be thrown out of court by the waivers each passenger had to sign.

There is a sense of irony in people celebrating this disaster on social media because it means "five less billionaires in the world." No, this is potentially a massive L for us commoners, because it shows just how much corporate greed can destroy lives. If the rich can be screwed this badly by an unregulated corporation, imagine what corporate giants can do to people who can't afford lawyers.

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[-] riodoro1@lemmy.world 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

willfully get in a sub built by an idiot known to have said very weird things about safety

die

your „estate” sues the sub company for $50 million

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 17 points 2 months ago

Could be worse. Could have used a left Joy-con.

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[-] Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

Everyone's joking here but I've owned and used an F710 since 2009 and they are ABSOLUTE CRAP.

I'm not even joking but their range is like 3 feet in the BEST conditions and their USB controller is proprietary and doesn't even work with OTHER F710s.

Anyone who's used one for more than a few hours knows this.

Why do I still use mine? Well the hand feel is amazing and the weight is perfect, but everything else is terrible and shouldn't even be used for gaming.

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[-] storcholus@feddit.org 12 points 2 months ago

but it seems likely that the Logitech controller—along with the five people on the sub—is gone forever.

Love it

[-] RangerJosie@sffa.community 12 points 2 months ago

Pretty sure the fly by wire system isn't why the beer can imploded.

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[-] Admetus@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 months ago

I've got two F710s and they're reliable enough. I wouldn't trust them in pro gaming though.

If I got in the sub and saw one of these used to steer it, I'd be very concerned. I know they're not really blaming Logitech; just taking one of these out of the plastic packaging and saying 'OK, now we've got steering and propulsion!' is not really a safety culture to get behind.

[-] IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago

What a stupid waste of time and resources.

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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2024
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