Joystick

Introduction

Joysticks have become a common tool among various devices, such as gaming controllers. They can be an interesting addition to projects as well. Joysticks are fairly simply components that use two potentiameters to give the readings from two axes. They may also include a button to see if the user has clicked the joystick.

Schematic

Below is a schematic showing how the joystick connects to an Arduino.

As stated previously, a common joystick will use two rotating potentiameters and a button. The potentiameters are analog while the button is digital.

Code

The following code shows how to read the various components of the joystick.

int verPin = A0;
int horPin = A1;
int selPin = 2;

void setup() {
  pinMode(selPin, INPUT);
  digitalWrite(selPin, HIGH);
}

void loop() {
  int verPos = analogRead(verPin);
  int horPos = analogRead(horPin);
  boolean selBtn = digitalRead(selPin);
}

Getting the information from the component is really simple, but a lot of fun projects can be done with joysticks.