Optical Sensor

Introduction

The V5 Optical Sensor detects the color, brightness, and presence of nearby objects using a combination of an RGB color sensor and proximity sensor. It can also use its built-in LED to illuminate objects for more accurate detection.

Below is a list of available blocks:

• set Optical light – Turns the Optical Sensor’s LED on or off.

• set Optical light power – Adjusts the brightness of the Optical Sensor’s LED.

• Optical found object? – Returns whether the sensor is detecting an object.

• Optical detects color? – Returns whether the sensor is detecting a specified color.

• Optical brightness – Returns the amount of light reflected from the object as a percent.

• Optical hue – Returns the hue value of the detected color.

• when Optical – Runs the attached stack when sensor detects or loses an object.

set Optical light

The set Optical light block turns the Optical Sensor’s LED on or off. This can help increase the sensor’s accuracy when detecting colors.

  set [Optical1 v] light [on v]

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.
state	The state to set the LED to: on – Also sets the LED’s brightness to 100%. off

  when started
  [Turn on the sensor's LED.]
  set [Optical1 v] light [on v]

set Optical light power

The set Optical light power block sets the brightness of the Optical Sensor’s LED. If the LED’s brightness is set above 0 while it is off, it will automatically turn the LED on.

  set [Optical1 v] light power to [50] %

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.
brightness	The brightness to set the LED to as a percent.

  when started
  [Turn on the sensor's LED at half brightness.]
  set [Optical1 v] light power to [50] %

Optical Sensor found object?

The Optical Sensor found object? block returns a Boolean indicating whether the sensor is detecting an object.

• True – The Optical Sensor is detecting an object.

• False – The Optical Sensor is not detecting an object.

  <[Optical1 v] found an object?>

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.

Example

Drive forward until an object is detected

  when started
  [Drive forward until an object is found.]
  drive [forward v]
  wait until <[Optical1 v] found an object?>
  stop driving

Optical Sensor detects color?

The Optical Sensor detects color? block returns a Boolean indicating whether the sensor is detecting a specified color.

• True – The Optical Sensor is detecting the specified color.

• False – The Optical Sensor is not detecting the specified color.

Note: The Optical Sensor is looking for hue ranges that match the specified color. For detecting specific hue ranges, see the Optical hue block.

  <[Optical1 v] detects [red v]?>

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.
color	Which color to look for: red – A detected hue value between 340° - 20°. green – A detected hue value between 80° - 140°. blue – A detected hue value between 200° - 240°. yellow – A detected hue value between 40° - 60°. orange – A detected hue value between 20° - 40°. purple – A detected hue value between 240° - 280°. cyan – A detected hue value between 140° - 200°.

Example

Drive forward until an object is detected

  when started
  [Drive forward until an object is found.]
  drive [forward v]
  wait until <[Optical1 v] found an object?>
  stop driving

Optical brightness

The Optical brightness block returns the amount of light reflected from the object as a percent.

  ([Optical1 v] brightness in %)

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.

Optical hue

The Optical hue block returns the hue value of the detected color.

This value ranges from 0 to 359 degrees, which correlates to the color wheel:

  ([Optical1 v] hue in degrees)

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.

Example

  when started
  [Look for the color pink using hue.]
  forever
  clear screen
  set cursor to row [1] column [1] on screen
  if <[300] [math_less_than v] ([Optical1 v] hue in degrees) [math_less_than v] [359]> then
    print [This is pink!] on screen ▶
  else
  print [No pink detected!] on screen ▶

when Optical

The when Optical block runs the attached stack whenever the Optical Sensor detects or loses an object.

  when [Optical1 v] [detects v] an object :: hat events

Parameters	Description
device	Which Optical Sensor to use, configured in the Devices window.
state	When the attached stack of blocks will run: detects – An undetected object is now detected loses – A detected object is now no longer detected