Joystick-Controlled Animated Eyes on OLED Display Using Arduino

Bring your projects to life with a pair of expressive eyes! In this Arduino project, we use a joystick to control two animated pupils on an OLED screen. Pressing the joystick button makes the eyes “close,” simulating blinking. This project is perfect for interactive props, beginner animatronics, or just learning how to handle displays and analog input.

It’s simple, fun, and a great introduction to combining input controls with graphic displays using the Adafruit SSD1306 OLED and Adafruit GFX libraries.

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Hardware Components

You’ll need the following hardware components to get started:

Component	Model / Type	Qty
Arduino UNO	R3 Board	1
OLED Display	SSD1306 128×64 I2C (0.96″)	1
Joystick Module	Analog X/Y + Pushbutton	1
Breadboard	Full-size or half-size	1
Jumper Wires	Male-to-male	1 set
USB Cable	For Arduino UNO (Type B)	1

How It Works ?

Joystick Inputs

The analog X and Y values are read from pins A0 and A1.
The push button is read from digital pin D2.
Analog values are mapped to pupil movement ranges (-7 to +7).

Drawing Eyes

Two large eye outlines are drawn at fixed positions.
Pupils are drawn inside those eyes based on joystick input.

Button = Blink

If the button is pressed, instead of pupils, two eyelids (lines) are drawn.
This simulates a “blinking” action.

OLED Display Update

After each update, the OLED screen is cleared and redrawn for smooth animation.

Schematic

Make connections according to the circuit diagram given below.

Wiring / Connections

Arduino UNO	Joystick	OLED (SSD1306)
A0	X-axis output	–
A1	Y-axis output	–
D2	Button (SW pin)	–
5V	VCC	VCC
GND	GND	GND
A4	–	SDA
A5	–	SCL

Arduino Code

#include <Adafruit_GFX.h>
#include <Adafruit_SSD1306.h>

#define SCREEN_WIDTH 128
#define SCREEN_HEIGHT 64
#define OLED_RESET    -1
Adafruit_SSD1306 display(SCREEN_WIDTH, SCREEN_HEIGHT, &Wire, OLED_RESET);

// Joystick pins
#define JOYSTICK_X A0
#define JOYSTICK_Y A1
#define JOYSTICK_BUTTON 2

void setup() {
  pinMode(JOYSTICK_BUTTON, INPUT_PULLUP);

  if (!display.begin(SSD1306_SWITCHCAPVCC, 0x3C)) {
    Serial.println(F("SSD1306 allocation failed"));
    for (;;);
  }

  display.clearDisplay();
  display.display();
}

void drawEye(int x, int y) {
  display.drawCircle(32, 32, 15, SSD1306_WHITE); // Left eye
  display.drawCircle(96, 32, 15, SSD1306_WHITE); // Right eye

  display.fillCircle(32 + x, 32 + y, 5, SSD1306_WHITE); // Left pupil
  display.fillCircle(96 + x, 32 + y, 5, SSD1306_WHITE); // Right pupil
}

void drawEyelids() {
  display.drawLine(17, 32, 47, 32, SSD1306_WHITE);  // Left lid
  display.drawLine(81, 32, 111, 32, SSD1306_WHITE); // Right lid
}

void loop() {
  int joystickX = analogRead(JOYSTICK_X);
  int joystickY = analogRead(JOYSTICK_Y);
  bool buttonPressed = !digitalRead(JOYSTICK_BUTTON);

  int pupilX = map(joystickX, 0, 1023, -7, 7);
  int pupilY = map(joystickY, 0, 1023, -7, 7);

  display.clearDisplay();

  if (buttonPressed) {
    drawEyelids(); // Close eyes
  } else {
    drawEye(pupilX, pupilY); // Move pupils
  }

  display.display();
  delay(50);
}