A little fold-up joystick brings haptics to portable devices

The tactile joystick developed by startup Foldaway Haptics brings the sense of touch to mobile devices, drones and, in a smaller version, to virtual reality controls. This pocket-sized device, which can be unfolded in an ...

Using haptic feedback joysticks to fly drones

A new joystick developed by startup MotionPilot lets users fly drones with just one hand in a fun, intuitive way. One version of this device includes a haptic feedback mechanism that gives users a sense of the drone's position ...

Joystick advances independent voting

A voting joystick created at Michigan State University could eventually enable people with dexterity impairments, senior citizens and others to exercise their right to cast ballots independently.

Looking for information? 'Data glasses' may be all you need

Putting on a pair of novel data glasses with an OLED microdisplay allows you to see not only the real world, but also a wealth of virtual information. Imagine looking through a repair manual; the trick here is that you turn ...

The hand as a joystick

You need a mouse and a keyboard, a touch-screen or a joystick to control a computer system. In the future, a new gesture command system will make it possible to use just the fingers of a hand.

'Sighted' wheelchair tested

Research on an electric wheelchair that can sense it's environment and transmit information to a person who is visually impaired, has been tested at Lulea University of Technology, Sweden. Daniel Innala Ahlmark, a prospective ...

'Welfare robots' to ease burden in greying Japan

Robotic wheelchairs, mechanical arms and humanoid waiters are among the cutting-edge inventions on show at a robotics fair in Japan, a country whose population is ageing rapidly.

A Robot Ronaldo, a PC toaster: Spain's Campus Party has it all

Cristiano Ronaldo and Raul are kicking a ball about. But they're not at Real Madrid's football stadium but the Campus Party, one of the world's biggest online entertainment events, and they're not the real football stars ...

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Joystick

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, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or side-stick. They often have supplementary switches on them to control other aspects of the aircraft's flight.

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

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA