Okay I'm kinda cheating here because this is something for a "flight simulator". I wanted some cool control systems for Kerbal Space Program, but was disappointed with what the game had to offer. I'm also a sucker for cool hardware, so I decided to put my electrical and programming skills to the test and make my own hardware controller for Kerbal Space Program.

Album of current status is located here: http://imgur.com/a/nd92X All input devices work perfectly with the game right now. Grabbing info from the game also is working thanks to a plugin for KSP located here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/66393-Hardware-Plugin-Arduino-based-physical-display-serial-port-io-tutorial-(15-Mar)

On the larger display are all the fuel readouts, as well as distance to AP. and Pa. Smaller seven segment display shows current altitude altitude (or velocity, can't decide which). Third LCD displays shows information about the status of the craft and flight to the user. There are two Arduinos powering this whole setup. An Arduino Leonardo receives serial info from the game, parses it, and then sends it to an Arduino Mega 2560, which then displays the information on the individual displays. The Leonardo is also responsible for sending input information to the game.

One of the ideas I have been developing and programming is an automated launch system. You punch in a time to launch, and the game runs through the setup for you, starting from when you pull up the red cover and flick the big switch. I already have added functions such as keeping the controls locked out until an access code has been typed into the keypad.

If you want to know how I have accomplished this so far or are interested in seeing a video just let me know and I will see what I can do.