Advancements in remotes. Theory on going from fine motor skills to gross

[AP-E-Sk8]

Nobody asked for this explanation.
But it keeps coming up every time a new remote drops.

Esk8 remote “innovation” has mostly stalled. We keep getting thumb wheels with more options, more screens, more settings, but the core control interface hasn’t really evolved. It’s still asking the human body to do the same thing it did years ago, just with nicer packaging.

The problem is that thumb wheels live entirely in the fine-motor world. They rely on tiny thumb movements, short travel, and minimal resistance. That works when stress is low. Under speed and adrenaline, fine motor control is the first thing to degrade. Small muscles lose precision quickly, and the input becomes noisy. Adding more software features doesn’t change that.

Short, light triggers aren’t much better. They still depend on a single finger making precise movements at exactly the moment the nervous system is shifting away from precision.

This is where extended, multi-finger triggers with real resistance point toward something better. They move control out of tiny, isolated muscles and into larger muscle groups that stay stable under adrenaline. When multiple fingers share the load, involuntary micro-movement gets averaged out instead of passed straight through. The input naturally smooths itself without the rider having to consciously fight it.

Resistance is a big part of this. Most current remotes are position-based controls with almost no resistance. Under stress, the nervous system struggles to hold a precise position. Add resistance and the task becomes force-based instead of position-based. Humans are much better at regulating force under load, especially when adrenaline is high.

There’s also a mismatch with how the body behaves under stress. Grip strength increases automatically. Thumb wheels don’t benefit from that at all, and can actually become harder to modulate cleanly. A control that allows pulling against resistance aligns with what the body naturally wants to do instead of fighting it.

What’s missing in esk8 remote design isn’t more menus or modes. It’s hardware that respects human physiology. Controls that adapt to stress, not just bench-top precision. Interfaces that allow the nervous system to switch naturally between fine control and smooth, deliberate input based on the situation.

Thumb wheels with more features aren’t innovation. They’re iteration.

Real advancement in esk8 remotes will come from rethinking how humans actually interact with power under speed and adrenaline, not just from adding another screen or setting.

[tuckjohn]

Make a prototype! Let’s see the theory in action.

[AP-E-Sk8]

Extended Trigger prototype in the photo, also working on finding stiffer springs for the puck. .55 is good. But needs just a little more resistance

[dskate]

Interesting idea. I could see it being a fully enclosed loop so you have the same control braking

[AP-E-Sk8]

I see kinda like a lever action rifle. The one pictured does work for braking like this as well as normal push from the pointer finger. Because it’s so long it’s quick to reengage from the photoed position

[AP-E-Sk8]

I have the concept in my head for a progressive resistance pull. So at like 50% pull it it becomes stiffer so less chance of over pulling at high speeds where you really notice the difference in power it takes to go from 35 to 36mph and beyond. Gives that nice easy modulation in corners and then when a high speed straight comes up you can smoothly get to top speed. Less chance of tire spin/ chatter

[b264]

I absolutely LOVE this thread and concept, but it’s during braking when the most fine control is needed in my honest opinion. That’s also likely to be the most stressed, adrenaline-filled moment right after an automobile does something dumb, requiring immediate evasive action, often using brakes and not throttle, without becoming a bad Superman imitation.

[b264]

Progressive resistance sounds sick.

[b264]

What happens during a thunderstorm and/or when this is accidentally dropped or bumped? It needs to work. All the time. Even in those scenarios, without critical pieces breaking off or suffering from water ingress failures.

And it’s even better if it’s small enough to fit in a pocket and not look like a gun.

[AP-E-Sk8]

The original idea around progressive resistance was mostly aimed at throttle, because that’s where unintended input causes the most problems under stress. Braking behaves differently, and for me, it hasn’t felt like I needed the same kind of protection there. A stiffer spring already adds intention in both directions to an extent, without getting in the way when you need to grab brake now.

That said, I don’t think this has to be a one-way decision.

It seems totally doable to design something where resistance is adjustable independently in both directions. I’m picturing something similar to the ADT truck adjustability from Propel, where you can tune feel instead of being stuck with one behavior.

In other words, let people choose:

hard pull, soft push

or balanced both ways

or even soft pull, firmer push if that’s their preference

That way you’re not forcing a philosophy onto the rider. Someone who wants heavy, deliberate throttle but instant, low-effort braking could have that. Someone else might want symmetry. The hardware could support both.

The big idea isn’t “everything needs more resistance.” It’s that esk8 remotes should stop treating throttle and brake as identical inputs that just happen to go opposite directions. They do very different jobs, and the body interacts with them differently under stress.

Right now most remotes are basically thumb wheels with menus. The next step should be giving riders real mechanical adjustability, the same way we already expect from trucks and suspension.

[Venom121212]

Dude I am so with you

Why do you like a dual trigger remote?

The separation of throttles is huge for me in that each throttle now has way more throw in the actual physical limit of how far it can be depressed. Thumbwheel and single triggers split that one motion into two controls and I found myself always tweaking settings to make it feel “right” Thumbwheel remotes are often pretty unintuitive when it comes to forward vs reverse direction on the wheel. At least the trigger ones are intuitively pulling “in” to a home position WRT the remote main body. Eve…

[wpt_board]

Yeah with the dual trigger + long throw on the Maytech I can dial in a nice feel across the tension range by messing with the curves in VESC. And I’ve had some good sudden braking saves I’ve been happy with - I like the Hyst Brake Reverse mode since it preserves the ability to just fully smash the brakes in an emergency without going into reverse. A lot of the situs I’m thinking of were I smash the brake trigger down + bail off, so that mode keeps the board from running away.

Coming into remotes cold I instantly noped out of thumbwheels - required way to much focus to keep the speed even for me. Single trigger is usable but I have more issues with it than dual, finger getting caught in it def one of them.

[AP-E-Sk8]

So far results are looking good using two fingers to pull and one to resist on the three finger trigger mod. It does require three finger tips to be cut off of any gloves you’re using instead of 1 or 2. I noticed it quickly taking away that feeling of having to babysit the throttle position and replacing it with the feeling of holding something. The throw feels longer which tames high powered set ups. Slight over pulls of throttle that happen naturally don’t come on like a startled animal.

[DougM]

Back when I was a young lad and esk8’s had just been invented, when Vedder was still monkeying with 4.7 and we had to solder the components on ourselves, my first remote was my phone.

You would hold it flat, like a dinner plate, then tilt it up to go and down to brake. It didn’t require any fine motor skills because you could use your whole arm or your wrist to perform the action.

I then decided that I wanted to record my trips with my phone plus if I ever crashed I didn’t want to destroy it so I made a standalone remote with the same capability. I’m kinda heartbroken that i don’t have a picture of it because it was a dorky looking thing housed in a 1” clear plexiglass tube

It actually worked quite well until I put someone else on the board, then I learned that in a panic situation people tend to throw their hands up in the air, which caused it to go full throttle unexpectedly Which fortunately didn’t result in a lot of trouble because the board was driven by a single Tacon Bigfoot.

So I post this just to reinforce that there are other approaches outside the thumbwheel/trigger (you know, subvert the dominant paradigm and all that)

[dimos15]

@DougM

You would hold it flat, like a dinner plate, then tilt it up to go and down to brake.

So when you hit a bump it goes full throttle ?

I’ve seen that mode but i am scared to even try it on the bench

[ApproachCautiously]

@AP-E-Sk8

This is where extended, multi-finger triggers with real resistance point toward something better

I fully get what you’re aiming for here, but I think it is important to mention that more resistance on a trigger is not always ideal. Some people have issues with their hands and so more resistance is a bad option. The same thing applies to people wanting huge remotes.

All that being said, I do think it would be cool to see if you can make a remote to fit what you want, or modify an existing remote. More options for remotes is something that benefits everyone.

[Flyboy]

@AP-E-Sk8

Esk8 remote “innovation” has mostly stalled. We keep getting thumb wheels with more options, more screens, more settings, but the core control interface hasn’t really evolved.

Not sure if it’s been publicly stated, but if anyone wants to have a leg throttle, I’m down to build them basically at-cost. I keep offering to gift them to BOTY winners but it seems everyone gets sketched out at the idea

Throttle control based on body lean angle uses coarse motor skill, but has even better resolution than hand remotes since the travel is huge. The cost is some hard limits on body position (one of your feet needs to be planted in a predictable position) and a soft limit on front/rear truck weight transfer (e.g. moving weight back under braking can be mitigated but not completely avoided).

[AP-E-Sk8]

The throw on this is very comfortable. Almost feels like I built two-stage mechanical throttle curve built into the geometry. at Low speed when you need punch, you can pull from the pointer finger for 18mm of travel, when you’re flying and want to avoid pulling too fast so that when the power multiplies you can avoid spinning the tires you pull from the middle or ring finger for closer to 40mm of travel.

Also worthy of note it’s been pretty good at resuming power, like braking into a turn and accelerating out of the apex I feel like there isn’t that moment where you’re searching for the power.

[Pecos]

I keep thinking about this and it lives in the back of my head rent free. If there was only a way to be able to move around the deck like i do and still use a leg throttle. Choking up to the front of the deck to rest and carve or getting low and spreading out to go fast/ turn hard keeps me backing out of the idea. I just can’t think of a way to decouple the foot possibly from the throttle position. there’s no way i can think of to have both feet parallel and next to each other facing forward (t pose for dominance) work then shift to regular or goofy from there. Seems like a racing use would be best as your feet are always going to be in a certain optimal area

[Flyboy]

I think you’d need to strap the lever around your waist instead of the knee, so the mechanism would be huge.