WASHINGTON — What’s cooler than a seven-ton battle truck that will demolish boulders, trees, cars and anything else in its way?

How about a seven-ton battle truck that will demolish anything in its way that’s driven with an Xbox controller?

Dan Tascione, one of the researchers on DARPA’s Crusher project, said the crew adapted several video game controllers for use with the $30 million unmanned vehicle.

“It really didn’t take much work,” he said. “These things are great. And all of the soldiers know how to use one.”

Technically, the crew doesn’t drive the Crusher with the Xbox joystick: That’s done with a console racing controller, complete with steering wheel and pedals, typically used for racing games. The Xbox controller is used to rotate the cameras, lift up the vehicle mast, and, if equipped, fire the vehicle’s weapons.

Tascione even adapted an iPhone to tap into the vehicle’s basic network, allowing him to check its engine temperature, battery levels and on-board cameras from anywhere he goes.

“It took me about a weekend,” he said.

Stephen Welby, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, said ideas like those are critical to the agency’s larger goal.

“We’re trying to get our folks thinking like the military and the military thinking more about what’s possible when they look ahead,” he said.

“How much work did adapting (the iPhone) take? Not much. But it’s the idea. Why not put one of these in the hands of a soldier in the field who needs to monitor the vehicle, or put those readouts on some wristwatch device?”

So someday soon, Welby said, soldiers “could finally put those ‘Halo’ skills to good use.”