Color

Introduction

The Color Sensor is an optical sensor that can detect surface colors, measure light levels, and sense nearby objects. It includes a built-in LED to illuminate surfaces for more accurate detection.

This page uses color_1 as the example Color Sensor name. Replace it with your own configured name as needed.

Below is a list of all methods:

Actions — Detect objects with the Color Sensor.

• object_detected — Registers a function to be called when an object is detected.

Mutators — Modify the lights on the Color Sensor.

• set_light — Turns the Color Sensor’s LED on, off, or to a set brightness level.

• set_light_power — Sets the brightness of the Color Sensor’s LED.

Getters — Return object data with the Color Sensor.

• is_near_object — Returns whether an object is within range of the sensor.

• color — Returns the hex code of the detected color.

• brightness — Returns the detected brightness.

• hue — Returns the detected hue value.

• installed — Returns whether the Color Sensor is connected to the Brain.

Constructors — Manually initialize and configure a Color Sensor.

• ColorSensor — Creates a Color Sensor.

Actions

object_detected

object_detected registers a function to be called when the Color Sensor detects an object.

Usage:
color_1.object_detected(callback, args)

Parameters	Description
callback	A function that is previously defined to execute when the Color Sensor detects an object…
args	Optional. A tuple containing arguments to pass to the callback function. See Functions with Parameters for more information.

Mutators

set_light

set_light turns the Color Sensor’s LED on or off.

Usage:
color_1.set_light(value, units)

Parameters	Description
value	Specifies whether to turn the LED on or off using one of the following: LedStateType.ON — Sets the LED’s brightness to 100%. LedStateType.OFF — Sets the LED’s brightness to 0%. Alternatively, a percent from 0 to 100 can be used to set the LED brightness. A value of 0 turns the LED off; any value above 0 turns it on at that brightness.
units	Optional. The unit that represents the brightness value: PERCENT.

# Turn the LED on and off forever
while True:
    color_1.set_light(LedStateType.ON)
    wait(0.5, SECONDS)
    color_1.set_light(LedStateType.OFF)
    wait(0.5, SECONDS)

# Turn the LED on and off forever
while True:
    color_1.set_light(LedStateType.ON, 75)
    wait(0.5, SECONDS)
    color_1.set_light(0)
    wait(0.5, SECONDS)

set_light_power

set_light_power sets the brightness of the Color Sensor’s LED. If the LED is not already on, this method will also turn the LED on.

Usage:
color_1.set_light_power(value)

Parameters	Description
value	The brightness of the LED as a percent from 0 to 100. A value of 0 turns the LED off.

# Turn the LED light on at different intensities
color_1.set_light_power(10)
wait(2, SECONDS)
color_1.set_light_power(100)

Getters

is_near_object

is_near_object returns a Boolean indicating whether the Color Sensor is within approximately 57 millimeters (2.25 inches) of an object. Detection depends on reflected light, so dark or non-reflective surfaces may not be detected reliably.

• True — The detected object is within approximately 57 millimeters.

• False — The detected object is not within approximately 57 millimeters.

Usage:
color_1.is_near_object()

Parameters	Description
	This method has no parameters.

color

color returns the hex code of the detected color as a string in the format “Color” followed by two zeros and the color’s hex value. For example, detecting red (#FF0000) would return “Color 00FF0000”.

Usage:
color_1.color()

Parameters	Description
	This method has no parameters.

# Display the currently detected hex value
while True:
    brain.screen.clear_screen()
    brain.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    brain.screen.print(color_1.color())
    wait(0.5,SECONDS)

brightness

brightness returns the detected brightness as a percent.

Usage:
color_1.brightness()

Parameters	Description
	This method has no parameters.

# Display the currently detected brightness
while True:
    brain.screen.clear_screen()
    brain.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    brain.screen.print("Brightness:")
    brain.screen.next_row()
    brain.screen.print(color_1.brightness())
    wait(0.5,SECONDS)

hue

hue returns the detected hue value as a float in the range of 0 to 359.99 degrees, corresponding to positions on the color wheel shown below.

Usage:
color_1.hue()

Parameters	Description
	This method has no parameters.

# Display the currently detected hue 
while True:
    brain.screen.clear_screen()
    brain.screen.set_cursor(1, 1)
    brain.screen.print("Hue: ")
    brain.screen.print(color_1.hue())
    wait(0.5,SECONDS)

installed

installed returns a Boolean indicating whether the Color Sensor is connected to the Brain.

• True — The Color Sensor is connected to the Brain.

• False — The Color Sensor is not connected to the Brain.

Usage:
color_1.installed()

Parameters	Description
	This method has no parameters.

Constructors

Constructors are used to manually create ColorSensor objects, which are necessary for configuring a Color Sensor outside of VEXcode.

ColorSensor

ColorSensor creates a Color Sensor.

Usage:
color_1 = ColorSensor(smartport)

Parameter	Description
smartport	The Smart Port that the Color Sensor is connected to, written as PORTx where x is the number of the port.

# Create a Color Sensor object in Port 3
color_1 = ColorSensor(Ports.PORT3)