triven:
well peter, i guess its limit switches for me. . . . . . if so, how do i write a program to read the status of the outputs of the 2 single axis joysticks? and mainly, once i have the outputs what are the inbuilt functions to read analog values and vary digital outputs in an arduino??
If each joystick is driving two limit switches then you just have four switches to read. There are plenty of example sketches that show how to read a switch using a digital input, and you just need to do that four times. Obviously the three possible states of each joystick tells you whether you need to move forward/stationary/backward and left/straight/right and you need to set your outputs accordingly.