Looks like an old control panel for a planetarium? Turning the panel lights knob would backlight all the text in red, making it easy to see what you're turning/pushing in the dark.
See Flickr for notes on what the various controls do.
See Flickr for a description of the controls.
An old X-ray machine control panel.
The Vex remote control is a 6 channel FM transmitter with 2 dual axis joysticks which transmit data for channels 1 through 4. There are 4 trim buttons for re-calibrating the joystick channels. (Data for channels 5 and 6 are sent through two pairs of buttons on the back of the remote.) The remote also has a small LCD screen which shows the current level of its (not the robot's) battery in addition to other data about the current control configuration. The two buttons to the left and the single button to the right of the LCD are for switching modes, selecting channels, and entering data. Finally, the big switch at the far right is the on/off switch for the remote.
The control panel for operating and monitoring the Alice in Wonderland ride in Disneyland's Fantasyland.
No Ideas But In Things is a library of controls, animations, layouts, and displays that might be a source of inspiration for interaction designers. Dan Saffer is the curator.
The title comes from a William Carlos Williams poem.