Oculus Quest/Rift S Touch Controller Teardown
The long awaited Oculus Quest is finally here! The first virtual reality (VR) headset with the promise of a truly untethered immersive experience on a mobile platform. For many developers, this marks a pivotal moment for the immersive technology field as we enter the Sophomore years of the VR narrative.
I have been anxiously waiting to take a peek inside of the headset since Project Santa Cruz was announced at Oculus Connect a few years ago. So when Quest was announced this previous year, I couldn’t wait to start tinkering with the hardware and get a better look inside.
Controller Design Changes
While the new and original Touch controllers share identical functionality, the original Touch controllers had an array of IR LEDs in a loop down design, while the new Touch controllers have a loop up design. The logic behind the change is based on how the controllers are being tracked. The original Touch controllers were tracked using external sensors, while the new Touch controllers are tracked from sensors on the headset. To reduce the probability of occluding the LEDs from the sensors, the design of the loop was flipped.
The Teardown
I don’t recommend or advocate dissembling your own hardware. I had intentions of dissembling these controllers for my own education and a future project. Therefore, I decided to document the process to share with others. Teardown at your own risk!
Enjoy!
Step 1: Remove Magnetic Battery Cover
Similar to the original Touch controllers, the battery cover is held in place with magnets. Simply slide the cover down to expose the battery caddy. You are able to remove the wrist strap on this step as well by shimmying the rubber part sideways with a little bit of force.
Step 2: Remove Sticker and Screws
The screws won’t immediately be exposed, so you will need to peel off the sticker to expose 2 screws. These can be removed using a Torx T5 screwdriver.
Step 3: Remove Back Cover
Using a prying tool like a Jimmy or Opening Pick, gently remove the back cover.
Step 4: Locate Screws and Remove
There are multiple screws that need to be removed in order to remove the battery caddy.
- 2 screws near the controller trigger
- 1 screw on the left side (for left controller)
- 3 screws of right side (for left controller)
- 1 screw on the bottom
Step 5: Remove Battery Caddy
With a little bit of force, the battery caddy can be removed. WARNING: This piece is connected to the PCB with a ribbon cable. You need to disconnect this cable from the PCB prior to removing.
Step 6: Remove Exterior Plastic Ring?
Here is where it starts getting a bit tricky. The exterior plastic ring must be removed to expose 2 screws that are holding front plate in place. I attempted prying with a Jimmy, but it didn’t really budge. I assume a bit of heat from a heat gun or knowing where to pry could do the trick. *I plan to do a post-mortem of the teardown to update the best way to approach this.
Step 7: Remove Screws from Behind PCB
Once the exterior ring is removed, there should be 2 screws that are exposed behind the PCB. These should be the only remaining mounts of the front plate. *I assumed that the front plate was attached only with adhesive similar to the original Touch controllers. This wasn’t the case and I ended up breaking off the front plate. Learn from my mistake and don’t do the same thing!
Step 8: Remove Screws on Top of PCB
Carefully remove the cables from the top of the PCB using tweezers or a spudger. Remove the remaining screws from the top of the PCB.
Step 9: Remove PCB
WARNING: The PCB will still be attached to the ring with a ribbon cable. Delicately remove the ribbon cable from the PCB. At this point, you should be able to remove the PCB.
Thoughts on Design and Repairability
As expected, the ergonomics of the new Touch controllers are unrivaled. I have been a huge fan of the original Touch controllers and always felt they were the VR standard to match. The change in the IR LED ring location didn’t seem to make a major difference to me during gameplay and the inside-out tracking was very comparable to the original.
Disassembling went fairly smoothly until the ring had to be disassembled. These controllers were definitely designed to be replaced, not repaired. Although, I did appreciate the reduced use of adhesive for this iteration. I’m sure once I determine an optimized method of disassembly with the appropriate tools, it may become much easier. I’ll be sure to share what I figure out here!
As a last note, I expect designing around these controllers will be a challenge due to the organic geometry designed for ergonomics. We have several projects in our road-map that involve designing and 3D printing around these controllers. Luckily, these are compatible with Quest and Rift S, so I will only need to design once for multiple platforms. Thank you, Oculus! It should be a fun and interesting challenge, and I plan to share it along the way.
Final Thoughts
At a compelling price point, an incredible lineup of VR titles at launch and the convenience of mobility, Quest will most likely be the catalyst to wide-spread VR adoption. Beyond gaming, Quest will undoubtedly make an impact on Enterprise, Medical, Education, Social Media and Entertainment. To many developers, it is the headset we have all been waiting for. For the general consumer, it may be the first glimpse of the new immersive world.
Much appreciation for taking the time to read the teardown and I hope it will be helpful for others in the future! Special thanks from BadVR!
Can’t get enough VR hardware? We did a teardown of the Oculus Quest headset here: https://medium.com/badvr/oculus-quest-headset-disassembly-2f404b004a3c
