Cheap Logitech F710 controller may have contributed to Titan submersible implosion, lawsuit alleges

OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush shows off Logitech F710 game controller used to control Titan submersible
(Image credit: CBS Sunday Morning)

The first wrongful death lawsuit (PDF) from the Titan submersible implosion in 2023 is underway, and attorneys have pointed out several factors that could have played a role in the tragic accident. Among these contributing factors is the inexpensive Logitech F710 game controller used as the submersible’s only means of navigating the craft.

The estate of Paul-Henri Louis Emile Nargeolet recently filed the lawsuit against OceanGate, Inc., and others. Other defendants include the estate of deceased OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush. The lawsuit is requesting damages be paid of at least $50 million.

Nargeolet, known worldwide as “Mr. Titanic” because of his 37 previous dives to the ocean liner wreckage, was working with OceanGate on Titan as a crew member. His responsibilities were to "guide other crewmembers and assist with navigation through the Titanic wreckage.”

In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs point out that OceanGate and the other defendants were warned repeatedly by “multiple deep-sea diving experts and engineers, about the potentially fatal consequences of their choices and actions.” These warnings stemmed from serious concerns about the design and construction of the Titan submersible, as well as its operation.

One of the listed design concerns was using the Logitech F710 game controller as the only way to steer the submersible. Rush highlighted this in a 2022 interview with journalist David Pogue, holding up the controller with its 3D-printed thumbstick extensions and boasting, "We run the whole thing with this game controller."

Game controllers are heavily used in military and space flight applications, primarily because newer generations have built up so much muscle memory in using them. However, the decision not to include a secondary, hard-wired means of controlling the Titan was heavily questioned as unsafe before the dive.

Rush, infamously at this point, shrugged off safety concerns. He told Pogue, "At some point, safety just is pure waste." Rush wasn’t just talking about the inclusion of the Logitech F710, but about that and other concerns raised with the Titan’s design. Similarly, the wrongful death suit points out the controller and other factors questioned long before the Titan began its descent to the Titanic wreckage.

These other design and construction choices included building the submersible using carbon fiber instead of titanium, the submersible’s porthole, and the use of materials with differing expansion/compression coefficients. These rounded out the four main areas of criticism Rush and OceanGate ignored.

The lawsuit acknowledges the root cause of the implosion may never be known and does not place sole blame on any one factor. However, the "daisy chain of failures of multiple improperly designed or constructed parts or systems" likely contributed. Now, the plaintiffs seek compensation from OceanGate and the other defendants.

The wrongful death suit claims the defendants "were careless, negligent, grossly negligent, and reckless" because, in part, they failed to provide a safe work environment or "take reasonable precautions during the design, manufacturing, testing, and operation phases" of the Titan.

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Jeff Butts
Contributing Writer

Jeff Butts has been covering tech news for more than a decade, and his IT experience predates the internet. Yes, he remembers when 9600 baud was “fast.” He especially enjoys covering DIY and Maker topics, along with anything on the bleeding edge of technology.

  • jp7189
    This type of craft is not easy to build. There must have been some truly brilliant engineers working on this. How could it be possible that any engineer wouldn't have redundancy on such a critical component. Besides that who would choose a WIRELESS method of control in such tight quarters where cable routing couldn't have been a major challenge.

    At least tell me they packed a spare set of batteries.
    Reply
  • Amdlova
    Next time build with a orinal ps2 controller :) build to last forever
    Reply
  • Gururu
    I guess it is unclear if loss of controls led to sinking deeper than intended resulting in implosion. Or the craft simply imploded due to fatigue at correct depth.
    Reply
  • CelicaGT
    The link between the controller and the disaster is tenuous at best and, iirc from earlier reading on other, more technical sites, is only being used as an example by the legal team to establish the kind of mentality the design team (Rush) had. In regards to the disaster in general I encourage anyone actually interested in something more than idle conjecture to read the following. It's long, and on Wired, but worth the read. It's contributed by Mark Harris (Not that Mark Harris) whose contributions are typically of much higher quality than the normal Wired clickbait.

    https://www.wired.com/story/titan-submersible-disaster-inside-story-oceangate-files/
    Reply
  • Pierce2623
    The idea that divers knew better about construction materials and expansion coefficients than the engineers that designed this thing is ridiculous. As someone with a double major in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, it’s virtually impossible to get an engineering degree without being EXTREMELY competent at maths.
    Reply
  • ravewulf
    Choosing to shape it like a tube instead of a sphere is another big factor. The wealthy and their hubris...
    Reply
  • gondor
    Gururu said:
    I guess it is unclear if loss of controls led to sinking deeper than intended resulting in implosion. Or the craft simply imploded due to fatigue at correct depth.
    Nothing unclear about that - Titan has made successful dives )without implosion= to Titanic before. It was due to dive to Titanic again )which happens to lie on the bottom of the ocean). How could it "lose control and sink deeper than intended" when it cannot go any deeper than the seafloor where Titanic lies?
    Reply
  • Makaveli
    "At some point, safety just is pure waste."

    This quote is going to destroy them in court.
    Reply
  • Vanderlindemedia
    Controller had nothing todo with anything.

    Fatigue caused the implosion. There's several people explaining how the thing violently made gun sound noises while diving. That's carbon fiber crackling up - the thick 5 inch tube made it to at least a couple of dives before it gave in. The pressure at -3500m is so violent there was zero chance for any of the occupants. Instant death.

    You don't build a vessel with anything other then Titanium, Metal as those materials can expand and such without losing it's strength. Carbon fiber is good at pulling but not compressing. The whole design choice was considered out of the order and went in untested.

    If it was made out of steel, it would have added at least couple of thousand of extra kg's and a overall larger vessel to counter the weight and such. The silly owner thought he could get away with cutting corners, and thought it was a good idea to use acoustic sensors, as if that gave any time at all when carbon fiber was giving in.

    For those who are interested - the transcript was fake and not real (that's out there).
    Reply
  • Notton
    Pierce2623 said:
    The idea that divers knew better about construction materials and expansion coefficients than the engineers that designed this thing is ridiculous. As someone with a double major in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, it’s virtually impossible to get an engineering degree without being EXTREMELY competent at maths.
    Rush was a bachelor of science for Aeronautical Engineer, but his masters was for Business Administration.

    When I looked up what you needed for designing a submarine, it was Naval Architecture, and Maritime Engineering. Structural Engineer and a good understanding of hydrodynamics is only partially helpful.
    IDK if you need to have a masters in the above two, or if bachelors suffices for 4000m depth.

    And then when you go and look at the design history of the Titan (Cyclops 2), and how Rush operated the entire company... it is... fraught :grimacing:
    Reply