Joystick Game Controller using Arduino Leonardo

We previously interfaced Joystick with Arduino UNO to understand how it works and controlled four LEDs on its left, right, up and down movement. In this project we will use the same Joystick as Gamepad or game controller to play any computer games which requires left, right, up and down movements. To play games which requies more control options, two or more joysticks can be used. Here we will use Arduino Leonardo to interface Joystick as Game controller. Arduino Leonardo has advantage over Uno that we can install USB drivers on it and it can be detected as mouse, keyboard or joystick by computer when connected.

 

Components Required

1. Arduino Leonardo
2. Dual Axis XY Joystick Module
3. Arduino IDE
4. Connecting wires

 

Arduino Leonardo

For this project we are using the Arduino Leonardo, it is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega32u4. It has 20 digital input/output pins (out of which 7 can be used as PWM outputs and 12 as Analog inputs),  a 16 MHz crystal oscillator,  a micro USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with a AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get started.

 

 

The Leonardo is different from all preceding boards in that the ATmega32u4 has built-in USB communication, eliminating the need for a secondary processor. This allows the Leonardo to appear to a connected computer as a mouse and keyboard, in addition to a virtual (CDC) serial / COM port.

 

Technical Specifications

Microcontroller	ATmega32u4
Operating Voltage	5V
Input Voltage (Recommended)	7-12V
Input Voltage (limits)	6-20V
Digital I/O Pins	20
PWM Channels	7
Analog Input Channels	12
DC Current per I/O Pin	40 mA
DC Current for 3.3V Pin	50 mA
Flash Memory	32 KB (ATmega32u4) of which 4 KB used by bootloader
SRAM	2.5 KB (ATmega32u4)
EEPROM	1 KB (ATmega32u4)
Clock Speed	16 MHz
Length	68.6 mm
Width	53.3 mm
Weight	20 g

 

PIN Out Reference 

 

Dual Axis XY Joystick Module

Joysticks are available in different shapes and sizes. A typical Joystick module is shown in the figure below. This Joystick module typically provides Analog Outputs and the output voltages provided by this module keep changing according to the direction in which we move it. And we can get the direction of movement by interpreting these voltage changes using some microcontroller. Previously we interfaced joy stick with different microcontrollers:

• Interfacing Joystick with Arduino
• Interfacing Joystick with Raspberry Pi
• Interfacing Joystick with PIC Microcontroller
• Joystick Interfacing with AVR Microcontroller

 

 

This joystick module has two axes as you can see. They are X-axis and Y-axis. Each axis of JOY STICK is mounted to a potentiometer or pot. The mid points of these pots are driven out as Rx and Ry. So Rx and Ry are variable points to these pots. When the Joystick is in standby, Rx and Ry act as voltage divider.

When joystick is moved along the horizontal axis, the voltage at Rx pin changes. Similarly, when it is moved along the vertical axis, the voltage at Ry pin changes. So we have four directions of Joystick on two ADC outputs. When the stick is moved, the voltage on each pin goes high or low depending on direction.

 

Circuit Diagram

This Arduino Joystick Game Controller requires connections between the Arduino and the Joystick as follows:

 

 

Code and Working Explanation

Complete code with a demo video is given at the end; here we are explaining few important part of it.

Firstly, we need to initialize the keyboard library

#include<Keyboard.h>

 

Next in below code, we have initialised X and Y axis of the Joystick module for Analog pin A0 and A1 respectively.

const int X_pin and const int Y_pin respectively

 

The analog value of the VRX pin is read and if the value is 1023 then the command for “up” is given and if the value is 0 then the command for “down” is given.

Similarly, the analog value of the VRY pin is read and if the value is 1023 then the command for “right” is given and if the value is 0 then the command for “left” is given.

Joystick also has a push button on top so this button (SW) is also read and if the button is pressed the value will be 0 then the command for “enter” is given.

 

Finally burn the code into Arduino and connect the Arduino with computer.

Next check the ‘Devices and Printers’ in your control panel, you will be able to see “Arduino Leonardo” under devices section as shown in below image. Now you are ready to play with the joystick.

 

We can control the any game controls using this Joystick. The Joystick has two potentiometers inside it, one is for X-axis movement and another is for Y-axis movement. Each potentiometer gets 5v from the Arduino. So as we move the joystick, the voltage value will change and the analog value at Analog pins A0 and A1 will also change. So the joystick will act as a gamepad.

 

So this is how a normal Joystick can be converted into a Game Controller using Arduino Leonardo and can be used to play games having all the controls to move left, right, up and down. As told earliar more than one Joystick can be interfaced to get more controls other than these basic four functions.