Missing Titanic Tourist Submarine Relies on $30 Video Game Controller to Maneuver Vessel
Jun. 20 2023, Published 7:15 p.m. ET
A submarine that went missing on a Titanic wreckage tourist excursion relied on a simple $30 video game controller to maneuver the submersible, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The submersible, dubbed "Titan," was a 21-foot vessel owned and operated by OceanGate Expeditions.
On Sunday, the Titan set off on an exploration of the Titanic wreckage site when it went missing. Five people were onboard the submarine, including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and British billionaire Hamish Harding.
Since Sunday, a frantic search effort was underway with officials from the United States and Canada. Coast Guard teams were deployed off the coast of Newfoundland, where the Titanic sat nearly 13,000 below on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean.
As search and rescue teams scrambled to coordinate resources, critics pointed to a deeply concerning video of the OceanGate submersible that gave insight into its construction.
A cheap $30 video game controller was used to control the submarine, a component that has raised eyebrows — and potential clues as to what went wrong.
The Titan's controller appeared to be a Logitech G F710, which retailed for around $30 on Amazon.
While the use of a video game controller to maneuver crafts like drones is not unusual, according to Forbes, the use of the PC game controller was.
The Logitech controller, which featured modified joysticks, was compatible with Windows devices, going back to Windows Vista and Windows 7 operating systems.
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That being said, Logitech was not named as a sponsor of the submersible nor had any involvement in its design aside from its product being selected by designers. In the now-viral video of the Titan, Rush said of the vessel, "We run the whole thing with this game controller."
The statement appeared to suggest that the Titan was designed to rely solely on the Logitech controller. Rush additionally shared that other parts used to construct Titan were purchased from "Camper World," an RV store.
The video gave a peek inside the vessel, which was said to be about the size of a minivan. Unable to stand up, passengers were cramped inside the simplistic design that was bolted shut from the outside.
As of Tuesday's afternoon search efforts, officials estimated that the Titan had around 40 hours of breathable air left.
The grim deadline heightened fears as crews desperately worked an area roughly the size of Connecticut in hopes of finding the submarine on the surface.