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This Arduino Joystick tutorial will show you how to connect an 2 axisjoystick to using any two Arduino analogue inputs. The joystick has two potentiometers one for vertical movement andone for horizontal movement.
All that happens is that you put 5V at one end of the potentiometer and 0V at theother end of the potentiometer, and the wiper adopts a value in between thesevoltages. Then all you do is read the analogue values using an Arduino using the Arduino adc.
You can buy an Arduino joystick module as shown below - these havethe power pins and two analogue outputs, but the also have a pushbutton pin that activates when you push the joystick down.
For this Arduino joystick the potentiometer values are 4.4kOhm, others are usually 10k Ohms.
Thispicture shows the physical structure of the Arduino joystick - twopotentiometers to top and right with the control stick in the middle.
The connections are power, ground, VRx and VRy (Variable Resistance) and SW is the push button switch.
Note: Of course whether VRx is horizontal and VRy is vertical depends onthe orientation of the module. That won't really matter so change it insoftware as needed.
The button input pin is connected to groundwhen pushed, so you need a pullup on that connection - that is easilydone using the internal pullup in an Arduino (see the sketch below forhow to do that).
| Arduino Pin | Joystick pin |
|---|---|
| 5V | +5V |
| GND | GND |
| A0 | VRx |
| A1 | VRy |
| 5 | SW |
Arduino Joystick Sketch
The following sketch does not require a library and justreads and displays the values from analogue input A0 and A1. It alsodisplays the button push output.
const int VRyPin = A1;const int SWPin = 5;int VRx = 0; // value read from the horizontal potint VRy = 0; // value read from the vertical potint SW = 0; // value read from the switchvoid setup() { Serial.begin(9600); pinMode(SWPin,INPUT_PULLUP);}void loop() { VRx = analogRead(VRxPin); VRy = analogRead(VRyPin); SW = digitalRead(SWPin); // print the results to the Serial Monitor: Serial.print("VRrx = "); Serial.print(VRx); Serial.print("\tVRry = "); Serial.print(VRy); Serial.print("\tSW = "); Serial.println(SW); delay(200);}[File:joystick.ino]
joystick in the middle - output
Notice how the value is not exactly the center of the ADC vange (511)and that both are different values even though they represent themiddle point.
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 0
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 0
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 0
VRrx = 522 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
Joystick moved to limits - output
Horizontal
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 512 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 420 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 218 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 60 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 0 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 253 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 675 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 911 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 1023 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 1023 VRry = 507 SW = 1
VRrx = 1022 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 1023 VRry = 507 SW = 1
VRrx = 1023 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 1023 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 1022 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
Vertical
VRrx = 524 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 373 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 176 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 0 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 181 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 320 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 505 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 506 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 522 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 887 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 1023 SW = 1
VRrx = 523 VRry = 1022 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 1022 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 1023 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 1023 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 1023 SW = 1
VRrx = 524 VRry = 506 SW = 1
The values show that the joystick returns to center values are thesame i.e. they are consistent but the values can be very different for each potentiometer.
This library allows you to calibrate the Arduino Joystick and makes it easy to detect UP, DOWN,LEFT and RIGHT movements.
The parameters LOW HIGH and DIVITION determine how sensitive the code is to the values from the Arduino Joystick.
https://github.com/YuriiSalimov/AxisJoystick/blob/master/examples/SerialJoystick/SerialJoystick.ino
Download it from : Here
- Unzip the download.
- Change the folder name AxisJoystick-version to just AxisJoystick.
- Paste the modified folder on your Libraryfolder (On your libraries folder inside Sketchbooks or Arduinosoftware).
- Restart the IDE.
Commands in the library are:
singleRead()
multipleRead()
isPress()
isUp()
isDown()
isRight()
isLeft()
readVRx()
readVRy()
readSW()
calibrate(LOW, HIGH, DIVITION);
Instead of fiddling around with pins you can swap X and Y using:
XYReplacer(original) where original is the orignial object. Note include XYReplace.h - see example here.
Sketch - calibrating the joystick
/* Joystick axes calibration Reads a press of the calibrated joystick and displays information in the default Serial. https://github.com/YuriiSalimov/AxisJoystick Created by Yurii Salimov, January, 2019. Released into the public domain.*/ #define VRX_PIN A1#define VRY_PIN A2#define LOW_RANGE 0#define HIGH_RANGE 1023#define RANGE_DIVITION 100Joystick* joystic;// the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the boardvoid setup() { Serial.begin(9600); joystic = new AxisJoystick(SW_PIN, VRX_PIN, VRY_PIN); joystic->calibrate(LOW_RANGE, HIGH_RANGE, RANGE_DIVITION);}// the loop function runs over and over again forevervoid loop() { Serial.print("| SingleRead: " + String(joystic->singleRead())); Serial.print(" | MultipleRead: " + String(joystic->multipleRead())); Serial.print(" | Press: " + String(joystic->isPress())); Serial.print(" | Up: " + String(joystic->isUp())); Serial.print(" | Down: " + String(joystic->isDown())); Serial.print(" | Right: " + String(joystic->isRight())); Serial.print(" | Left: " + String(joystic->isLeft())); Serial.print(" | VRx: " + String(joystic->readVRx())); Serial.print(" | VRy: " + String(joystic->readVRy())); Serial.println(" | SW: " + String(joystic->readSW()) + " |");}[File:example from github: ]
Note If you want to map the output of the ADC to a different range of values then use the map function as follows:
outputValue = map(sensorValue, 0, 1023, 0, 255);
This will linearly map values with the minimum and maximum output:
0 maps to 0
and
1023 becomes 255.
Zero to 1023 becomes Zero to 255.
Note: See the 'arduino map' page to properly use the map function - there are some subtle problems there.
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Arduino Joystick
Connections to Arduino Uno
Software
Arduino Joystick Sketch
joystick in the middle - output
Joystick moved to limits - output
Arduino Joystick Library
Sketch - calibrating the joystick
Range Mapping ADC values
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