A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks are often used to control video games, and usually have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. A popular variation of the joystick used on modern video game consoles is the analog stick.

The joystick has been the principal flight control in the cockpit of many aircraft, particularly military fast jets, where centre stick or side-stick location may be employed (see also Centre stick vs side-stick).

Joysticks are also used for controlling machines such as cranes, trucks, underwater unmanned vehicles and zero turning radius lawn mowers. Miniature finger-operated joysticks have been adopted as input devices for smaller electronic equipment such as mobile phones.

Joysticks can be used within first-person shooter games, but generally provide less accurate control than a combination of mouse and keyboard inputFact: date=May 2008.

Technical details

Most joysticks are two-dimensional, having two axes of movement (similar to a mouse), but one and three-dimensional joysticks do exist. A joystick is generally configured so that moving the stick left or right signals movement along the X axis, and moving it forward (up) or back (down) signals movement along the Y axis. In joysticks that are configured for three-dimensional movement, twisting the stick left (counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise) signals movement along the Z axis. These three axes - X Y and Z - are, in relation to an aircraft, roll, pitch, and yaw.

An analog joystick is a joystick which has continuous states, i.e. returns an angle measure of the movement in any direction in the plane or the space (usually using potentiometers) and a digital joystick gives only on/off signals for four different directions, and mechanically possible combinations (such as up-right, down-left, etc.). (Digital joysticks were very common as game controllers for the video game consoles, arcade machines, and home computers of the 1980s.)

Additionally joysticks often have one or more fire buttons, used to trigger some kind of action. These are simple on/off switches.

Some joysticks have force feedback capability. These are thus active devices, not just input devices. The computer can return a signal to the joystick that causes it to resist the movement with a returning force or make the joystick vibrate.

Most I/O interface cards for PCs have a joystick (game control) port. Modern joysticks (as of 2007) mostly use a USB interface for connection to the PC.

History

[[image:Numbered DE9 Diagram.svg|thumb|right|Computer port view of the Atari standard connector:

1. up
2. down
3. left
4. right
5. reserved
6. fire button
7. +5VDC
8. ground
9. not connected