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Nintendo has filed a patent for ‘smart fluid’ joysticks, perhaps to eliminate drift | VGC
(www.videogameschronicle.com)
this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Look up "potentiometers" if you want to understand the workings behind a thumbstick as well as why drift happens.
So, drift happens because the graphite resistance element inside the potentiometers wears out over time due to friction, but these potentiometers are absurdly cheap compared to the alternatives and one company, ALPS of Japan, has dominated this market (not just for the Switch but for everybody) for 20 years that they pretty much out-prices everybody else. So, now you know why companies still use these thumbsticks despite the fact that drift always develop eventually.
Hall Effect sensors are definitely better, but also tend to be heavier and bulkier, so we'll see if this works out.
Have you not seen Guili kits replacements for the switch joycons?
I've seen them, they are an order of magnitude more expensive than the potentiometer based ones. Good for enthusiast hobbyist upgrades, but I doubt Nintendo is going to go for that considering the pricetag of the Hall Effect sticks.
That's just because there is only one company making them so... yeah we got expensive joystick replacements. If Nintendo just paid a bit more and went with the HE joysticks in the first place they wouldn't be in this situation. Why do you think they're patenting these joysticks with magnetic fluid in em? They don't want this to happen again so they do what the Japanese do best, over engineer a simple solution.
I'm just gonna sit back and eat some popcorn
Theoretically, these could be better than Hall effect ones.
It's a tradeoff of price/size for reliability, essentially. "Better" is subjective in this case.
I understand, I was saying maybe the new ones will be objectively better. More reliable at cheaper price. Won't know until we see them in use.
The hall effect sensor on my 3d printer can measure 0.01mm. Does it really need to be "more accurate" than that?
Ahan. And the hall effect sensor on joysticks have same accuracy?
I mean I could edit the firmware and make it go to 4 digits, and they use the same fkn tech so yes accuracy is just as high
As a big keyboard nerd it is cool to hear about Alps in another context. They used to dominate the mechanical keyboard market too back in the late 80s.Thanks for sharing!