this post was submitted on 11 Apr 2024
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Wondering if anyone has experimented with using controllers (PS/xbox/other) to do anything other than gaming ?

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[–] Hello_there@fedia.io 23 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Operating parts of multi million dollar navy ships, according to articles. Not joking

[–] GammaGames 13 points 5 months ago

Also submarines, when heading down to see the Titanic

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 months ago

Because they’re designed for controlling and people are familiar with them/can learn easily

Also helps standardize when taking bids from multiple companies

I wonder how many spares they keep around

[–] ColdWater@lemmy.ca 22 points 5 months ago

They use it to control a submarine

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The Steam Deck and Steam controller have touchpads which make them totally usable as a mouse for normal PC usage like web browsing

[–] neoman4426@fedia.io 2 points 5 months ago

Hell, not optimal by any means but I even had a serviceable for light usage setup using analog sticks and a mapping program before Steam Input came out. Much better with the trackpads

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Disneyland uses Steam Decks to remote control droids in Star Wars land.

[–] Vilian@lemmy.ca 10 points 5 months ago

ukraine was doing the same but to kill russians lol

[–] CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml 8 points 5 months ago

In college I was on the robotics team. We used several different controllers to drive various robots. I made a little tank steering robot that was remote controlled from a PC with an Xbox 360 controller. I later rebuilt it to use a Raspberry Pi and added a pan/tilt mount for the camera controlled from the controller's D-pad. We also used a Wiimote to control our competition robot, using the accelerometer for steering which was pretty cool. This was in like 2010 when motion controls were still a relatively new and cool thing.

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

They are the OG electric vibrators for people who can't buy vibrators.

[–] blindsight 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

A vibrator was one of the very first patented electrical devices. 1880. It predates the first patent for the first electric iron by a decade.

[–] Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 5 months ago

I didn't know this!

[–] Interstellar_1@pawb.social 7 points 5 months ago

They can be quite useful in hobbyist robotics

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Actually yes.

I worked on a crew building pole barns in Colorado. For anyone unaware you basically dig a bunch of holes, set wooden columns in them and pour concrete around them, then hang the rest of the structure off those columns.

We had a dude that swore by the xbox 360 controller. We tried to get him to use a framing hammer to drive his nails but he would only use that 360 controller.

We also did a lot of acid. If you see a weird barn in Colorado, look for the microsoft logo pressed into the wood next to the siding nails.

[–] jsomae@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So he literally, physically hammered the xbox controller into the nail?

[–] intensely_human@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

He hammered the nails into the boards

[–] DetachablePianist@lemmy.ml 5 points 5 months ago

In Ghostbusters 2 they rigged up a Nintendo joystick to drive the statue of liberty through the streets of NYC. Does that count?

[–] numbermess@fedia.io 4 points 5 months ago

I am working on getting my XBox controller to work with a Raspberry Pi/Astroberry setup to control my telescope.

[–] Perfide@reddthat.com 4 points 5 months ago

Hacksmith on youtube uses playstation controllers for remote operation of their giant mechs.

[–] zout@fedia.io 4 points 5 months ago

Some guys I used to know used them to make music, as some sort of midi controller.

[–] Cwilliams 3 points 5 months ago

For FRC robotics competitions, we use Xbox controllers to control the robot

[–] OuterRem@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago

We had a subcontractor drive a wired camera mounted drone through the sewers with it. Some use LIDAR or SONAR instead of just cameras. Game controllers are pretty common for these.

[–] wazzupdog@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I have one of mine configured as media controls when I'm wandering around the house (8bitdo controllers ftw)

[–] runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 5 months ago

I've seen some people on YouTube use them to control their CNC.

[–] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 3 points 5 months ago

All a controller is is just some buttons on a wire in a portable form factor.

If you want to use it for Excel, you can.

I used one on a Raspberry Pi to drive a self build remote car wirelessly.

[–] FeelThePower@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 months ago

playstation and Xbox controllers make good Kodi/XBMC remotes for a laptop connected to a TV.

[–] averyminya 2 points 5 months ago

I don't know if me talking about my Steam controller counts...

[–] maynarkh@feddit.nl 2 points 5 months ago

I use my flight sim gear as a fidget toy, hope that counts.

[–] vortexal@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago

On a very old computer of mine, the "y" key was completely missing and I couldn't replace it because the contacts were broken so I just use JoytoKey and a USB SNES controller.

I've also used a similar setup for navigating some image boorus but, for obvious reasons, I wont specify anything further.

[–] FullOfBallooons@leminal.space 2 points 5 months ago

Some digital artists use Switch JoyCons for shortcuts in Clip Studio and other painting programs.

[–] packadal 2 points 5 months ago

Gave a presentation last year, using a joy con as a remote for switching slides.

Nice thing is you can have mouse with the joystick as well

[–] ludrol@bookwormstory.social 2 points 5 months ago

I would also add VR controllers to the list and I had used them for painting.

[–] Goun@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 months ago

Iirc (on the phone now,) cameractrls allows panning and zooming with a gamepad.

[–] toototabon@lemmy.ml 1 points 5 months ago
[–] Aggravationstation@feddit.uk 1 points 5 months ago

Haven't actually done it yet but I'm going to buy myself a Teensy for my birthday next month, set up headless M8 on it and control it through my Steamdeck.