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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[–] mocha_lotsofmilk 103 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I heard they are great for killing billionaires in experimental deep sea rigs

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Controllers in shoddily constructed deep sea rigs don’t kill people, billionaires piloting with controllers in shoddily constructed deep sea rigs kill people!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

and so does microsoft , woo woo wooo

[–] [email protected] 28 points 7 months ago (1 children)

They use it to control a submarine

[–] johannesvanderwhales 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

For sale: Logitech submarine controller, lifetime warranty.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I wonder how many spares they keep around

[–] KISSmyOSFeddit 2 points 7 months ago

And if you always get the shitty broken one until you're a corporal.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

DualShock 4 and DualSense touch pads do this too! They even support multi touch so you can do left/right/middle click by using multiple fingers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 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

[–] [email protected] 17 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 11 points 7 months ago (1 children)

ukraine was doing the same but to kill russians lol

[–] KISSmyOSFeddit 2 points 7 months ago

"These blast points, too accurate for Russians"

[–] [email protected] 10 points 7 months ago

They can be quite useful in hobbyist robotics

[–] [email protected] 9 points 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago

He hammered the nails into the boards

[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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

[–] SuperSynthia 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Several modular synth modules use joysticks for control over parameters, but one of the coolest I’ve seen is one from Delptronics that uses a wii nunchuck controller to send out control voltage. Hagiwo I believe also has a similar DIY design.

[–] Ginger666 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You can use one for quadrophonic mixing also

[–] SuperSynthia 1 points 7 months ago

Yes! Yes you can! Vectoring synthesis voices is also cool!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 7 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.

[–] Contingencyfork 6 points 7 months ago

I do recall a gaming controller being used to pilot the titan submersible that is now on the ocean floor. May their souls rest in peace.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 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?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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

[–] KeepFlying 3 points 7 months ago

I think it was med students who use controllers to control flash card decks for studying.

Also as PowerPoint remotes.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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

[–] hperrin 3 points 7 months ago

I used to use a mini game controller for artwork. Like up on the dpad would zoom in the canvas. I had buttons for undo, redo, switch to eraser, rotate the canvas, flip it, etc.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 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.

[–] mesamunefire 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

We used a ps4 controller as a mouse on our tv/media center. Its wired/Bluetooth and comes in as a mouse on our Linux box. No setup, just connect and it works.

[–] Ginger666 2 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Fire up halo 1

Get in the gunner seat of warthog

Tape right trigger down

Profit

[–] Wootz 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

OP asked for uses other than gsming.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Instructions unclear, Xbox controller stuck up my ass

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

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

[–] SidewaysHighways 2 points 7 months ago

Scrolling around LibreELEC to get to my gaming folder

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 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.