Joystick

A joystick is a personal computer tangential or general control device consisting of a handheld stick that pivots about one end and transmits its angle in two or three dimensions to a computer. Joysticks are often used to control video games, and generally have one or more push-buttons whose state can also be read by the computer. The term joystick has become a synonym for game controllers that can be connected to the computer since the computer defines the input as a "joystick input”. Apart for controlling games; joysticks are also used for controlling machines such as elevators, cranes, trucks, powered wheelchairs and some zero turning radius lawn mowers. More lately miniture joysticks have been adopted as navigational devices for smaller electronic apparatus such as mobile phones.