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Using a webcam, the Steam Controller can now seek out it's charger by vibrating across the desk
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Fubarberry sopuli.xyz Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-07-19
Quote

You can see a demo video here:

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251   Original
IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet reddthat.com IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com
Joined: 2026-01-25
#2 · Quote Reply

I drove my steam controller to work today.

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WhyIHateTheInternet lemmy.world WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-06-17
#3 · Quote Reply

What if...I point the webcam...at other stuff?

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yyprum lemmy.dbzer0.com yyprum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-02-08
#4 · Quote Reply

What if...I point the webcam...at other stuff?

Then it won't find the charger :(

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WhyIHateTheInternet lemmy.world WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-06-17
#5 · Quote Reply

Then it won't find the charger :(

Oh... Well it'll keep trying though, right?

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yyprum lemmy.dbzer0.com yyprum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-02-08
#6 · Quote Reply

Oh... Well it'll keep trying though, right?

Yes, and then it becomes toy story 12, the latest pixar adventure where andy has moved on from the old toys and now plays videogames.

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WhyIHateTheInternet lemmy.world WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-06-17
#7 · Quote Reply

Yes, and then it becomes toy story 12, the latest pixar adventure where andy has moved on from the old toys and now plays videogames.

But when not playing games he still tries to "charge" the controller, right?

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the_riviera_kid lemmy.world the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-03-10
#8 · Quote Reply

But why? You can just.... put it on the charger.

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MrEff lemmy.world MrEff@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-24
#9 · Quote Reply

This reminds me of the guy on sharktank that had an app for iPhone to take panoramic pictures on its own by standing up the phone on its edge and it used the vibrating frequency to move.

The app was nothing big or special and no one wanted. The programming on how they achieved it was all anyone wanted and they made a shit load of money selling it.

55
Fubarberry Moderator Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-07-19
#10 · Quote Reply

But why? You can just.... put it on the charger.

Why would anyone buy a Roomba when they can just vacuum the floor themselves?

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ag10n lemmy.world ag10n@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#11 · Quote Reply

Yes, and then it becomes toy story 12, the latest pixar adventure where andy has moved on from the old toys and now plays videogames.

Toy Story 2?

2
grue lemmy.world grue@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#12 · Quote Reply

Oh... Well it'll keep trying though, right?

Look, if you just want something that vibrates there are a lot of easier ways to achieve that.

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Yttra lemmy.world Yttra@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#13 · Quote Reply

Why would anyone buy a Roomba when they can just vacuum the floor themselves?

I've never been sold on the roomba idea, but vacuuming can take some time and physical effort depending on the size of the living/working space.

Putting a controller on a charging puck should take all of five seconds, to be generous. It even has magnets!

I feel like the real answer here with the controller is "because we can/because it's cool"

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Zorque lemmy.world Zorque@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-08-13
#14 · Quote Reply

I've never been sold on the roomba idea, but vacuuming can take some time and physical effort depending on the size of the living/working space. Putting a controller on a charging puck should take all of five seconds, to be generous. It even has magnets! I feel like the real answer here with the controller is "because we can/because it's cool"

Well, also "as proof of a concept that may to lead to something more useful"

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Yttra lemmy.world Yttra@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-01
#15 · Quote Reply

Well, also "as proof of a concept that may to lead to something more useful"

Also true! Though in a Roomba's case with room mapping, sometimes more terrifying... 😔

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Fubarberry Moderator Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-07-19
#16 · Quote Reply

I've never been sold on the roomba idea, but vacuuming can take some time and physical effort depending on the size of the living/working space. Putting a controller on a charging puck should take all of five seconds, to be generous. It even has magnets! I feel like the real answer here with the controller is "because we can/because it's cool"

I was kinda joking with the Roomba comparison.

I could kinda see a use for this where the controller could wake itself up and try to plug itself in if the battery gets low, but the steam controller battery life is so good that it's a pretty low need

1
Err(()).unwrap() lemmy.world rtxn@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-24
#17 · Quote Reply

But why? You can just.... put it on the charger.

Because it's there.

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smeg feddit.uk smeg@feddit.uk
Joined: 2023-07-01
#18 · Quote Reply

But why? You can just.... put it on the charger.
[deleted]
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WhyIHateTheInternet lemmy.world WhyIHateTheInternet@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-06-17
#19 · Quote Reply

Look, if you just want something that vibrates there are a lot of easier ways to achieve that.

But this appears to have some sort of built in gps that knows where to vibrate precisely.

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the_riviera_kid lemmy.world the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-03-10
#20 · (edited) Quote Reply

Why would anyone buy a Roomba when they can just vacuum the floor themselves?

I know you think you are making a point but you aren't roombas do a shit job and you have to vacuum anyway.

I had a roomba it was garbage

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the_riviera_kid lemmy.world the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-03-10
#21 · (edited) Quote Reply

[deleted]

Why not? Because if fucking stupid. It would take you longer to set this bullshit up than it would to just set it on the puck.

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MalReynolds slrpnk.net MalReynolds@slrpnk.net
Joined: 2023-06-25
#22 · Quote Reply

This reminds me of the guy on sharktank that had an app for iPhone to take panoramic pictures on its own by standing up the phone on its edge and it used the vibrating frequency to move. The app was nothing big or special and no one wanted. The programming on how they achieved it was all anyone wanted and they made a shit load of money selling it.

And no-one actually uses it. Well done them, rich without consequences, living the dream.

13
Fubarberry Moderator Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-07-19
#23 · Quote Reply

Why not? Because if fucking stupid. It would take you longer to set this bullshit up than it would to just set it on the puck.

This was clearly a project someone did for fun, it's not meant to be practical or actually useful. Everyone else understands this and is making jokes about it, and you're lashing out at people acting like the joke responses were people being serious.

It should be obvious that it's not actually very helpful to have a controller that can charge itself, if placed within a few feet of a charger, on a perfectly flat surface, under a webcam, with a running computer and webapp managing the whole thing. It also wasn't useful to make a program to "drive" the controller with wasd. It also wasn't useful to make a program to sing chiptunes with the vibration motors. It wasn't even useful for valve to make the controller scream when dropped. It's just funny, and people are enjoying it.

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merc sh.itjust.works merc@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-09
#24 · Quote Reply

its

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Fubarberry Moderator Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2023-07-19
#25 · Quote Reply

its

My English Achille's heel

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thingsiplay lemmy.ml thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2026-01-09
#26 · Quote Reply

But why? You can just.... put it on the charger.

Too much work.

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thingsiplay lemmy.ml thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2026-01-09
#27 · (edited) Quote Reply

To continue the listing what we got so far:

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Holyginz lemmy.world Holyginz@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-17
#28 · Quote Reply

Why not? Because if fucking stupid. It would take you longer to set this bullshit up than it would to just set it on the puck.

Whoosh

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psycotica0 lemmy.ca psycotica0@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-15
#29 · Quote Reply

My English Achille's heel

I'm a native English speaker, and still every time I write something I read it back and expand every "it's" into "it is" or "it has" in my head, just to make sure. And replace every "its" with "his" or "hers".

It's even worse with on screen keyboards, because sometimes even if I typed it right, the autocorrect will "fix it", so I have to reread.

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Zorque lemmy.world Zorque@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-08-13
#30 · Quote Reply

Also true! Though in a Roomba's case with room mapping, sometimes more terrifying... 😔

Sadly that's the risk of any innovation, that someone will use it to manipulate and abuse others for power or pleasure.

4
the_riviera_kid lemmy.world the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-03-10
#31 · Quote Reply

This was clearly a project someone did for fun, it's not meant to be practical or actually useful. Everyone else understands this and is making jokes about it, and you're lashing out at people acting like the joke responses were people being serious. It should be obvious that it's not actually very helpful to have a controller that can charge itself, if placed within a few feet of a charger, on...

I understand it was for fun too, doesn't make it any less pointless.

-9
doctorflynt feddit.org doctorflynt@feddit.org
Joined: 2026-03-04
#32 · Quote Reply

I understand it was for fun too, doesn't make it any less pointless.

is it pointless if fun was the point?

10
beyoublahaj lemmy.world beyoublahaj@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-07-17
#33 · (edited) Quote Reply

To continue the listing what we got so far: play music: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=T0RHXColYXU Wilhelm scream: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=Mc22cAIIP4g remote control: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=g-8S8zk4dn8 (new) vision tracker: https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=hwq-xr2fDBU

Fourth link

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thingsiplay lemmy.ml thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2026-01-09
#34 · Quote Reply

Fourth link YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwq-xr2fDBU YouTube (embed): https://www.youtube.com/embed/hwq-xr2fDBU Invidious (instance list): https://redirect.invidious.io/watch?v=hwq-xr2fDBU Invidious (nadeko.net instance): https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=hwq-xr2fDBU

Nice. For some reason this particular video wasn't there when I checked it. I update my reply.

1
Lantsu sopuli.xyz manuremy@sopuli.xyz
Joined: 2026-03-13
#35 · Quote Reply

Uhhh that's scary please stay away from me Steam controller (cool too!)

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the_riviera_kid lemmy.world the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-03-10
#36 · Quote Reply

is it pointless if fun was the point?

I suppose thats true.

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floquant lemmy.dbzer0.com floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2024-05-31
#37 · Quote Reply

I understand it was for fun too, doesn't make it any less pointless.

Some people find fun to be the point

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SkaveRat discuss.tchncs.de SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de
Joined: 2023-07-09
#38 · Quote Reply

I understand it was for fun too, doesn't make it any less pointless.

Same as your comment

2
Zoop beehaw.org Zoop@beehaw.org
Joined: 2023-04-22
#39 · (edited) Quote Reply

Uhhh that's scary please stay away from me Steam controller (cool too!)

Next thing ya know, it's gonna lock onto you like a target and bzzzzzt bzzzzzt run after you - while you and the controller are both screaming. How fun!

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Rob T Firefly lemmy.world rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-07
#40 · Quote Reply

fEeD mE eLeCtRiCiTy

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AlsaValderaan lemmy.blahaj.zone AlsaValderaan@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-08-20
#41 · Quote Reply

its

it's charger
it is charger

1
yyprum lemmy.dbzer0.com yyprum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-02-08
#42 · Quote Reply

But when not playing games he still tries to "charge" the controller, right?

Well at that age Andy is probably charging his controller all the time but I doubt that it would be in the movie.

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als lemmy.blahaj.zone als@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-10-25
#43 · Quote Reply

Rehosted demo video:
Demo Video

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