Boring Company Controls Boring Machine with Xbox Controller

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

[H]ard|Gawd
Staff member
Joined
Mar 3, 2018
Messages
1,713
While the Boring Company is famous for selling flamethrowers, they are, in fact, a tunneling company. The startup founded my Elon Musk just posted a clip of a giant digging machine being controlled by an Xbox controller.

See for yourself in the video.
 
The API for the Xbox controller must be pretty good. Because the US Navy swapped out a bunch of their expensive consoles on their subs with Xbox controllers as well.
 
AlphaAtlas said:
While the Boring Company is famous for selling flamethrowers
Click to expand...

i had to hear about that the other day. someone going on how the ENTIRE company is a gimmick because they tried to sell a gimmicky flame thrower

*SIGH*

trying to explain that it was a joke product, completely escaped the person :rolleyes:
 
Well, seeing as how Xbox is boring (newer consoles in general), and controllers in general are boring, it is fitting that a boring company is using a boring controller made for a boring console.
 
katanaD said:
someone going on how the ENTIRE company is a gimmick
Click to expand...
well, elon himself has stated the boring company was started as a joke, because he was bored of LA traffic or something... anyways, it's a serious company now, and it'll be seriously cool to see it all work out for those in the city
 
Little did I know I had been training my whole life to be a Boring Equipment Operator.
 
Not me, I can't work those things. I have noticed the people that use them in games, I play, are clumsy, well compared to me and my mouse and keyboard. ;)
 
Shmee said:
The API for the Xbox controller must be pretty good. Because the US Navy swapped out a bunch of their expensive consoles on their subs with Xbox controllers as well.
Click to expand...

We have new equipment that uses PS4 controllers as well.
 
Shmee said:
The API for the Xbox controller must be pretty good. Because the US Navy swapped out a bunch of their expensive consoles on their subs with Xbox controllers as well.
Click to expand...

auntjemima said:
We have new equipment that uses PS4 controllers as well.
Click to expand...

Relatively reliable and easy to replace for very little cost. There aren't many soldiers in the field or commanders at camp that don't love cheap and plentiful. So long as it's not garbage, of course.
 
xanrxsuixjaqi8gk7gnq.jpg
 
Shmee said:
The API for the Xbox controller must be pretty good. Because the US Navy swapped out a bunch of their expensive consoles on their subs with Xbox controllers as well.
Click to expand...

They're doing it because the current generation entering these jobs are familiar with the controller. It's quicker to train someone on something they already know.
 
Should have gone with mouse and keyboard :p

Everyone knows those analog thumb sticks give you awful control.

Unless maybe the Boring Machine has aim assist? :p
 
Last edited:
Shmee said:
The API for the Xbox controller must be pretty good. Because the US Navy swapped out a bunch of their expensive consoles on their subs with Xbox controllers as well.
Click to expand...
I thought it was strange to use such a mediocre controller for critical operations like aerial drones and subs. I mean, it's comfortable to hold, but it's lacking in haptic feedback for precise direction on both joysticks and the d-pad. It would make way more sense to use a precision product like something from CH, Althen, or Scorpion. They're all affordable, and agnostic control interface APIs are dead simple and highly available.

At least with a boring machine you don't really need any precision.
 
so do these and the navy stuff ever have stick drift? do they use the FFB?
 
Youn said:
well, elon himself has stated the boring company was started as a joke, because he was bored of LA traffic or something... anyways, it's a serious company now, and it'll be seriously cool to see it all work out for those in the city
Click to expand...

Damn it must be nice to have so much money you can just do whatever to fuck you want any day.

Go Elon Haha
 
People always act surprised when companies choose an xbox or playstation controller. There were stories about the the tens of millions microsoft spent making the xbox one controller. It's better than anything the companies will come up with, cheap, and the controllers are well known so the learning curve will be lower. Using them makes a lot of sense. In all reality they will probability hold up better than many custom solutions and be lighter.
 
Spidey329 said:
They're doing it because the current generation entering these jobs are familiar with the controller. It's quicker to train someone on something they already know.
Click to expand...

Exactly. This has pretty much been what everyone that has done this has stated, the Navy for their equipment, drs for remote surgery machines... Most people know how to use the controller so it is an easy learning curve and cost much much less than trying to make the same thing yourself. Plus if you are using a windows based system at the core of your system it is built in. I wouldn't be surprised if Linux didn't have the drivers baked into it for gaming already also.
 
Exavior said:
using a windows based system at the core
Click to expand...
I can't help but think this may have something to do with the relatively high costs our military spends... trying to make windows do a simple thing without crashing after daily java/adobe updates and other "hotfixes" :p
 
Youn said:
I can't help but think this may have something to do with the relatively high costs our military spends... trying to make windows do a simple thing without crashing after daily java/adobe updates and other "hotfixes" :p
Click to expand...

Don't drag this into a Windows vs Linux debate.
 
PenGunn said:
Not me, I can't work those things. I have noticed the people that use them in games, I play, are clumsy, well compared to me and my mouse and keyboard. ;)
Click to expand...

I'm decent at slower games. FPS's? I really suck on console. On PC, I'm much better. I think with that equipment, it would be slower. Probably easy for the new bunch of people. Kind of like how joysticks are/were a thing in a lot of heavy equipment. It was cool to see things transition to that from my Grandpa/Dad's generation to the younger generation.


Youn said:
I can't help but think this may have something to do with the relatively high costs our military spends... trying to make windows do a simple thing without crashing after daily java/adobe updates and other "hotfixes" :p
Click to expand...

Hopefully, they aren't running that hole filled Java/Adobe software. Windows is very stable without the added software layers some people use. That fault goes to that extra software, not Windows. Other people can get things working perfectly fine with Windows, but Adobe/Oracle seem to fuck things up a bit more.


I'd be scared my controller would do what two of mine already have - started moving 'up' due to mechanical issues. Boring through some rock and it starts going off course... Whoops!
 
Ur_Mom said:
I'd be scared my controller would do what two of mine already have - started moving 'up' due to mechanical issues. Boring through some rock and it starts going off course... Whoops!
Click to expand...

I think the reason they can get away with this is because a tunnel boring machine isn't exactly a fast moving piece of equipment.

If you lose control of the controller you can likely easily shut it down before too much damage is done.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I think the reason they can get away with this is because a tunnel boring machine isn't exactly a fast moving piece of equipment.

If you lose control of the controller you can likely easily shut it down before too much damage is done.
Click to expand...

Yea, and there would be monitors to shut it down if it went off course most likely. The Seattle boring machine went 35' per day, which is actually much faster than I thought (https://newatlas.com/worlds-largest-drilling-machine-bertha/28311/). I'm sure it would be caught within inches if it went off track.
 
Ur_Mom said:
I'd be scared my controller would do what two of mine already have - started moving 'up' due to mechanical issues. Boring through some rock and it starts going off course... Whoops!
Click to expand...
that's what I thought too. all my controllers have some stick drift. just open the config panel and can see them twitching.
 
katanaD said:
i had to hear about that the other day. someone going on how the ENTIRE company is a gimmick because they tried to sell a gimmicky flame thrower

*SIGH*

trying to explain that it was a joke product, completely escaped the person :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Youn said:
well, elon himself has stated the boring company was started as a joke, because he was bored of LA traffic or something... anyways, it's a serious company now, and it'll be seriously cool to see it all work out for those in the city
Click to expand...

Listen to Elon Musk's talk with Joe Rogan, he talks a bit about the Boring company. It is still very much a play company for him. The Boring Company will only ever sell one product at a time and at a fixed/finite amount, or so he claims in the podcast. While they have potential contracts to build hyperloops, they haven't gotten the official go ahead yet for them. So far all they have is a tunnel... or as he puts it, a very big hole in the ground. It is just a hole.
 
Youn said:
You mean saving time/money is incompenent, or the fact that it's xbox controllers and not madcatz or some other brand?
Click to expand...

No,

By that we have created a generation of young people who are familiar with nothing but awful controllers with inaccurate terrible analogue thumb sticks, and that the world now must adapt to them for use in real world scenarios, not just in their lowest common denominator games.
 
NoOther said:
they haven't gotten the official go ahead yet for them. So far all they have is a tunnel... or as he puts it, a very big hole in the ground. It is just a hole.
Click to expand...
I did watch it, but thought he was talking about the "demonstration" which helped them get the gig, and they have about 1 mile of the actual thing complete now?
https://futurism.com/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel-la/

https://www.cnet.com/news/musk-says-first-boring-company-tunnel-in-la-near-completion/
 
Youn said:
I did watch it, but thought he was talking about the "demonstration" which helped them get the gig, and they have about 1 mile of the actual thing complete now?
https://futurism.com/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnel-la/
Click to expand...

He repeatedly refers to it as just a hole in the interview. There is a good reason for that, they don't actually have a full permit to build the hyperloop. They have to go through a lot of permits and approvals. He mentions that briefly as well. Anyway, that is part of the joke of "it's just a hole".
 
lol, I get that... just thought you were trying to say they haven't really started or done much work yet
 
Youn said:
lol, I get that... just thought you were trying to say they haven't really started or done much work yet
Click to expand...

Not at all, they have several other cities already interested with plans to build tunnels and possible hyperloops. In fact, they have one planned near where I live. I was merely commenting it based on the fact that he views the entire Boring company as his fun, but not too serious project, even though it could be one of his better ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top