Beginning this year, the United States Navy is going to start equipping some of its state-of-the-art, nuclear-powered submarines with Xbox 360 controllers.
After complaints from junior officers and sailors about the clunky controls used to direct submarine periscopes, the U.S. Navy will start using Xbox 360 controllers aboard Virginia-class submarines instead, the Virginian-Pilot reported Friday.
Two years ago, the U.S. Navy started testing the controllers as replacement controls for its newer, high-tech periscopes (called photonic masts) that are equipped with cameras and controlled with a large joystick (similar to those used to control helicopters). The testing took place in one of Lockheed Martin's labs, which found that old controls took hours of training to learn, whereas most people got a handle on the Xbox 360 controller within minutes. Read more...
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