It is the news that has caused the greatest impact on the international scene in recent hours. He titan submarineowned by the company OceanGate Expeditions, submerged last Sunday to carry out an exploration in the sunken remains of the legendary titanic. An hour and 45 minutes later the signal from the device was lost and the search to find its traces began.
The problem is that the five crew members of Titan had a limited amount of oxygen at that time, around 90 hours. Despite the fact that it is very difficult to find their whereabouts, a Canadian Boeing P8 Poseidon plane has detected sounds of blows underwater that could indicate the position of the expedition. While the entire rescue operation is being resolved, many focuses have focused on a distinctive element of the ship.
The controversial command
A 2005 Logitech F710 controller was revealed to be the pilot’s primary tool for controlling Titan. Many have raised an eyebrow that a ocean voyage valued at $250,000 depend on a peripheral that can be purchased for a very low price. However, looking back, we can verify that it is really common to find situations of this type even in war conflicts.
The British army itself has used a controller very similar to the one that those of us who have played video games have used for decades. It was not a model marketed by any brand, but the Challenger 2 tank can be piloted with a tool that is inspired by the controls that were in our hands during the 90s.
The goal was to offer a simple to use device for soldiers and members of the military who grew up playing video games. So not only has the 1998 tank benefited from this controller, but it is perfectly compatible with virtual training systems for troops in Wiltshire, in the south of the UK. This is how Commander Charles Bagshaw explained it to TechRadar:
“Some of the biggest simulators you can buy commercially in the world of VBS2 [Virtual Battlespace 2, software de simulación de campo de batalla] and some of the other systems out there, are very close to being serious video games. What it is not is Call of Duty”
The Israeli army is no stranger to this practice either. Xbox controllers became the selected devices to control Carmel, a prototype of IDF armored fighting vehicle, the engineers and managers of Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The target user to direct it focused on young people between the ages of 18 and 21, who had a high probability of having had contact with the world of video games.
“From teenagers to pre-military guys to young people looking for which service to choose, we let everyone play with [la simulación de Carmel] and define what kind of skills and what kind of accessories we should use, and accordingly we develop the whole system,” explains Meir Shabtai, general manager of IAI robotics systems operations. The results were widely positive among the participants, as and as Colonel Udi Tzur relates:
“They’re much more willing to experiment, they’re much less afraid of technology…it comes naturally to them. It’s not exactly like playing Fortnite, but something like that, and amazingly they bring their skills to operational effectiveness in a very short time. I’ll tell the truth, I didn’t think it could be achieved so quickly”
The Israeli armed forces were so inspired by the world of video games that the virtual interface presents information very similar to that of battle royale like Fortnite or Apex Legends. Available weapons, remaining ammunition and all sorts of relevant data to perform on the battlefield.
Steam Deck and the Ukrainian War
The conflict that has been going on for more than a year in Ukraine is no stranger to devices related to video games. TPO Media showed a few weeks ago the Saber weapons platform with which it is possible to destroy enemy personnel and light armored vehicles. The particularity with respect to other similar tools is that it allows the soldier who operates the action to be completely covered.
This is possible thanks to Steam Deck, Valve’s portable console that is used to control a machine gun which can be shot from 500 meters away. The truth is that it makes all the sense in the world, as the researcher Aric Toler relates:
“Steam Deck is pretty perfect when you think about it. A fully native OS client, great controller you can use, touch screen, etc. It makes a lot of sense that Steam Deck would be used, assuming the software supports Linux (unless you have gone through the horrible process of dual booting Windows on Steam Deck)”
This auto turret is the best use of Steam Deck I’ve seen so far
To all this we must add a factor that is no less and that is aligned with the rest of the examples presented. The public highly values whether to spend 399 euros on a Steam Deck, but for the purposes of a war, it’s really cheap. The device needed to control the Saber and other devices would be much more expensive if cheaper ways were not used.
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