Motion Types of Industrial Joysticks

Industrial joysticks are widely used to control, steer, and position a wide range of heavy-duty equipment, machines, and systems such as agricultural machinery, cranes, oil rigs, forklifts, large vehicles, excavators, military equipment, hoist devices, and others. There are different types of industrial joysticks featuring different handling options, mounting styles, and controller specifications like number of axes, spring return, friction hold, and protocol support.

With today’s industrial applications requiring more reliable and precise control to ensure efficiency in processes, choosing the right industrial joystick for your application requirements is vital.  P3 America, one of the few US-based specialists for precision industrial control and instrumentation systems, will help you understand the different types available to fit your needs.

Finger Controllers

Finger controlled joysticks are mainly used to provide control of movement and speed in low-profile units such as wheelchairs, medical instruments, robotic operations, and applications where precision and compact size are needed. With more industries automating processes that require precise control of mobile and industrial machinery, the use of rugged and ergonomically designed finger controlled joysticks is set to rise.

Hand Grip Controllers

Hand grip joysticks are widely used in heavy-duty applications such as mobile cranes, forklift vehicles, construction machinery, robotic machines, and farm machines. Thanks to their sophisticated wear-free hall effect sensors and control mechanisms, these types of joysticks are highly versatile in multiple applications. The sturdy design, extreme reliability, and convenience of operation are the key criteria that make these multipurpose  hand grip controllers a popular control option for multiple industrial applications.

Thumb Controllers

Thumb controllers are low-profile based joysticks that provide precise control with a variety of mounting and handling options for ease of integration. Ideal applications include machine control, measurement systems, conveyor systems, CCTV, wheelchair control, PTZ camera control, or in environments where precise and single or multi-axis proportional control is needed for a specific application system. You can choose from different  thumb control options based on your application and types of joystick button styles.

SpaceMouse Module

The robust and high-precision SpaceMouse Module is the ideal Man-Machine-Interface for industrial applications. 6-axis movement for intuitive control of 3D movements. Synthesis of joystick and trackball. Even under harsh environmental conditions the sensor system is working reliable and precise – resisting extreme temperatures, dust, aging and static magnetic fields.
The heart of the SpaceMouse®Modules is an optoelectronic system which is being used worldwide million of times in 3D mice. Using the ergonomically optimized controller cap applications can be manipulated with up to 6 degrees of freedom.  SpaceMouse Module are available with UART and USB interfaces.Industrial applications. Compact dimensions for easy integration into panels, armrests, desktop, etc.

Switch Only Controllers

Switch only joysticks are manually-activated control devices that are installed in control or front panels as well as in portable control equipment. These controllers are ideal for lowering, raising, and triggering movement to the right and left, or up and down, just to name a few possibilities. They’re widely used in machine tools, steel and construction industry, conveyor systems, transport systems, mechanical engineering sectors medical and studio technology and warehousing.

A clear switching function is usually integrated for precise control. This type of joystick helps simplify command control stations, requires small space requirements, easily mounts into slots on control panels, offers a long service life, and comes with robust and lasting construction.

Talk to P3 America Today

If you’re looking for a reliable partner to design, engineer, and supply precise control systems like joysticks for your industrial application, look no further than P3 America. With us, quality is guaranteed and delivery time is the best in the industry. We work closely with our customers to customize and build industrial control systems that suit their project needs in the most cost-effective way.

Talk to our sales engineers directly at  512-337-7336 or email us at sales@p3america.com to discuss your application needs.