Watch Robots Build Steam Controllers

[Conrad Zimmerman]

Watch Robots Build Steam Controllers

Valve shows off fully automated facility
Valve has published a new video showing the assembly process for the Steam Controller, which is entirely automated, in a new post detailing the current status of the peripheral. Following a time lapse of the facility being built, the video shows steps in the process which goes from soldering base components to shrink wrapping a pallet of completed units for shipping without ever being touched by human hands.

Since its release last month, the Steam Controller has already seen a number of new features added to it, including a means of mapping trackpads to screen regions and a configurable hotkey menu system. The next version of the Steam beta client will introduce the capability to register a controller to an account, allowing custom configurations to travel with the controller and be used on any Steam device, regardless of what account is logged in. Support for sharing custom configurations will also be expanded to include non-Steam games.

Source: Valve [http://store.steampowered.com/controller/update/dec15]

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[Scarim Coral]

Are they using aperture science machine to build those controller (at 0.10)? I guess that how it all begins.

IT- I guess I'm geeky to says that I found the production and the machinery interesting.

 

[Aerosteam]

I would have used this song:

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Yeah, definitely getting a cool Aperture vibe out of this. Nice.

 

[XenoScifi]

Cool! I just got a Steam Link and do not have a wireless controller yet. I like the design and will probably get one of these.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

BEEP BOOP

I AM A ROBOT

I HAVE COME TO TAKE CHINESE JOBS

BEEP BOOP, MAGGOTS

 

[Sampler]

Yeah, definitely getting a cool Aperture vibe out of this. Nice.

You mean with the Aperture science logo's on the equipment:

Spoiler

or the tiles from the start of a test environment:

Spoiler

 

[Juan Regular]

Impressive factory they got there. I seriously doubt they'll break even on that investment though. I personally love my Steam Controller but with all the unfounded hatred the thing has been getting, I don't think they're selling too many units.

 

[Lightknight]

That is simply fascinating. Thanks for posting here!

Though, I wonder if they have made enough sales to recoup even the cost of the facility? Reviews of the controller have been less than exciting thanks to it being a combination of keyboard/mouse and controller without being a master of either. Novel idea but PC gamers are likely going to just keep their lap table to use mouse and keyboard combos or just use traditional controllers. I am grateful for Valve to try though. I think they'd be better off just producing regular controllers with a couple function keys to drastically increase the number of hot buttons.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well I am Glad how that facility turned out, and quite surprised they are doing this on their own in an age where everything gets done by Chinese slave labor.

Then again I do imagine there is an extensive testing facility just beneath this exterior, with plenty of test subjects to make sure all the kinks are worked out...