Hey Pilots, I like would show off my project that i might Kickstart. I am finally at a point where I have started contacting a few injection molding company’s local to me in hopes to figure out what I need to do to ready it for molding, I have PBC on their way to me to complete the build out testing and make sure I kick all the last design bugs out. This is my Delta "throttle" Stick this would be the 6th version of the base unit and 4th for the stick. This controller is built to help control the thrusters and engine of the ship, making it simple to strafe a target and keep the front of your ship pointed at what you want while moving around an object. The main base of the unit is basically 3 identical parts, each of the 3 side has a 100RPM DC Motor, geared to a Slip/Friction Gear design to move the “Lower Arms”, The position is sensed by a Hall Effect Sensor that output analog to the controller board. For those wonder why the DC and Hall effect sensor and not something like a servo or Stepper, the motor needs to push against your force on the joystick and stalling out a Stepper would make it loses position tracking, A servo could have worked by stalling it out would kill the servo over long term use. The Slip gear at worst might slowly grind the plastic away but it allows the motor to have a constant force being applied to the return of the stick without damaging the hardware. The motors are used to return the joystick to "Center" once the pilot release the stick. Inside the base of the is where the Arduino and control board are in this version. The Control board simple takes an Arduino pro micro on top of it, Pro Micro was chosen for the simplicity of the USB Device programming for it, the ATmega32U4 has built in USB access making it a simple board to work with. IO is a bit limited on the board but a problem simply solved when it comes to how the Joystick has been built. The Joystick is Designed about the idea of having 1 PCB and 1 Mold that would make a left or a right stick, The Stick has 3 Toggle Switches, 2 Hat Switches, 1 Thumbstick and an Analog Trigger. The Thumbstick and Hat switch in the center trade places depending on the left or right handed of the build. Around the Main Hat switch the plan is to place 4 NeoPixel RGB LED’s these will allow programming for states of the controller or If we ever get API access to ship info pushed out to control surfaces it would react to ship status. At least 1 of the Toggle Switches will be used to control the Main function of the joystick, its position return program, and what axis it fights you on. The main way I currently use it is in a return to “Center” State this still make the controller want to return the center of the movement range that it is capable of, in the case of flight letting go of the stick will kill all thrusters. Throttle Mode, will make the stick work like a Throttle, sticking in the position you place it after pushing forwards or pulling back on it, any movement up/down or to the side will be returned to Zero causing the shit to stay in a forward flight. The last Mode is what I like to call “Sticky” mode, this will keep the joystick in any position you place it. I am sure many have notice that I have built this controller to attach to the edge of a desk horizontally, and this is for a few good reasons, 1. A Good anchor location, due to the pulling and pushing the stick in many direction is make it hard to have it work like a regular old joystick and just placed on the desk. 2. Functionality, having on the end or the make it easier to flight straight, when I tested the unit Vertically I found that trying to fly forwards in a straight line was very hard I was always fighting a downward drift, most likely due to gravity. By placing it on the edge it allowed the unit to center easier when pushed forwards. 3. Comfort. The unit is not Small, and the range it has mean you would have to place it lower than the position of the joystick if place Vertically. But Don’t worry, the controller as it is built does work in both styles, at least the base I am still looking at ideas for modifying the joystick. Future Feature I wish I could add to the unit, If there was some way to get the status/info of the ship out to the joystick I would add some basic force feedback, a few more modes, something power and shield controls flick the toggle and the joystick shift to a positions where the shield or power focus is located making super quick to pull it where you need the power to change to a switch back to whatever mode you need next. Just as a few ideas. Video of the Functional unit with the old Stick and Base URL to Imgure Album http://imgur.com/a/c4uAk There was a request for a mailing group, if you would like i can let you know if and when the kickstarter happends https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeNGCjRmReh4IbK5rccxvYR5MPYBGOd2TCzG8YFeF7-78rGA/viewform?usp=sf_link EDIT: Added These Pics. as requested UPDATE 3/28/2017: Just a quick update, been testing some springs and spring positions for the roll axis but much better news my PCB arrive a few days ago then followed by the electronics i need to populate them with. Enjoy the quick Images, i made a longer update to someone request.