how did the thumbstick on an n64 controller registered input? How did they detect the user moving the thumbstick? Are we still using this technology or do we do it differeny today
In: Engineering
These answer are wrong, it doesn’t use potentiometers, it uses optical encoding disks to determine its position.
As the stick moves it rotates a disk that has gaps in, as the gaps and solid wheel pass a light sensor, it knows that the stick has moved a tiny amount.
[Here](https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringPorn/comments/9htfei/n64_analog_stick/) is a great animation that shows how it translates the tiny movement to big rotation of the wheels.
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