Of course it's not directly controlling anything. It doesn't "directly" control your video game characters either by this standard. Who could possibly think differently, it's wireless for cryin' out loud.
This is a "this submersible seems like it was cobbled together out of whatever was lying around" story, a "hmm, that's funny/interesting/worrying" story from a source that has a big video-gamer audience, and a little bit a "this thing could have run out of batteries when they needed to turn" story. It's almost certainly not the cause of their issues but it does give people pause.
I wouldn't be worried about using a COTS part that people are familiar with, and I agree that's the "juicy" part of this story that gets reactions unfairly, but is it really unreasonable for people to look askance at the apparently sole method of controlling the vehicle relying on Bluetooth and AAs?
This is a "this submersible seems like it was cobbled together out of whatever was lying around" story, a "hmm, that's funny/interesting/worrying" story from a source that has a big video-gamer audience, and a little bit a "this thing could have run out of batteries when they needed to turn" story. It's almost certainly not the cause of their issues but it does give people pause.
I wouldn't be worried about using a COTS part that people are familiar with, and I agree that's the "juicy" part of this story that gets reactions unfairly, but is it really unreasonable for people to look askance at the apparently sole method of controlling the vehicle relying on Bluetooth and AAs?