US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

Re:US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls... by Nextgrid on Sunday August 11, 2019 @12:04PM (#20668724)

This is different. The issue here wasn’t the use of a general-purpose device itself but that the device they used (a touchscreen) wasn’t the best fit for the task at hand. Even worse, multiple screens were able to control the ship at the same time which to me seems to be the root cause of the accident. A single touchscreen still wouldn’t have been ideal, but it would’ve still prevented the accident IMO.

In the case of using Xbox controllers it’s actually a great idea - these controllers were designed & refined over decades of intensive use by all kinds of people around the world - you wouldn’t be able to do better even if you tried with a custom design. There are obvious concerns regarding reliability of the hardware, but the design itself is in my opinion flawless.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls... by zrobotics on Sunday August 11, 2019 @01:28PM (#20669249)

For another example in reverse: the Thrust master Warthog [0] HOTAS (hands-on throttle & stick, a controller for flight sims) is based on the A-10C controls. Part of this is for an immersive experience if one is flying a Warthog, but a large reason many people favor it is the excellent ergonomics. Fairchild & the Air Force spent a lot of design effort and thought on control placement and developed a very nice to use set of controls. Just like there are control schemes where a game controller makes perfect sense, aping actual aircraft controls is a great way to fly a pretend plane. Or on my case, a pretend spaceship. I've used an Xbox controller to control various robotics projects because there was no need to reinvent the wheel, and I can certainly understand why there is a niche market for controls to mimic cockpit controls.

[0] http://mobile.thrustmaster.com/node/812

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls... by amluto on Sunday August 11, 2019 @12:12PM (#20668769)

I would add a major caveat: Xbox controllers don’t have physical feedback the way an actual throttle lever or steering wheel does. See, for example, the endless arguments over whether the Boeing control style (where the position of a control means something) is better or worse than the Airbus style (where the position of a control is just an input).

If I were designing a destroyer control, I would probably make the throttle be some sort of device where the position of the device indicates the throttle state. But I would certainly make the throttle be a single-purpose device that controls nothing else.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls... by bartread on Sunday August 11, 2019 @12:13PM (#20668776)

Exactly: Xbox controllers are highly tactile and ergonomically designed so that they can be used effectively without ever having to look at them. In-car touchscreens are a menace, and a design fad that I cannot wait to see pass.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls... by zrobotics on Sunday August 11, 2019 @01:33PM (#20669273)

Additionally, they are proven to be highly ergonomic for a very wide swath of people. They aren't ideal for everyone (no input device can be ergonomic for literally everyone) but as shown from the wide array of people who can effectively use them they are tolerable for long periods of use for a (likely majority) of the population and already benefit from muscle memory for a lot of people. There's a good reason the Xbox and Playstation controllers share a very similar form factor, and have done so for several hardware generations now.

[ Parent | on HN ]