Physical interface for tablet and smartphone train controller

That was really neat. Probably good for a lot of things, but if you have to add all the buttons and knobs back on the ipads, why not just use the DCS or Legacy remote? Seems like it just turns the touch pad back into the remote which we already have?

 

For all the ideas people are tossing around.  Watching the Wifi control Bachmann is producing, speculating on the day when manufacturers do away with proprietary control systems and go to a universal standard.  Maybe Lionel and MTH could get together and create the actual software together, but then make their own physical iPad accessory to plug into it that would mimic their own remotes so people would be familiar with it.  Have MTH trains, snap the MTH unit onto your iPad?  For Lionel, snap on the Lionel unit.

 

This would be a way to make everyone happy.  If you want physical buttons you can still have them.  If you are fine with the touchscreen, that's possible too.

Folks involved in robotics have been using playstation 3 controllers, via Bluetooth, for controlling their robots.
Same could be done for trains.

But then why go through all that trouble when good functioning TMCC, Legacy, and DCS remotes already exist.

Technology already exists where a small computer containing a processor, RAM, software, speaker, and wifi can all fit inside an o gauge locomotive. These small computers can be programmed to control movement, lights and sounds. Multiple small computers can automatically form self meshing wifi networks and share information with each other via sensors. These things can be controlled by any type of user interface you like. They can even be programmed to operate autonomously.
The people involved in robotics are driving this technology. It can be adapted to trains but no one base done it yet.

One of the unfortunate features of all these technological marvels is that by the time you can buy them they're already obsolete.

 

Pete