Sensors of light and color

In this category, we present professional light sensors and color sensors. The sensors offered by the Botland online store measure the illuminance and / or the spectrum in order to recognize colors. These products make it possible to build various interesting diagnostic devices, such as weather stations. The devices shown here are compatible with other programmable electronics components. You can use them to build intelligent lighting control systems. Such a system can itself adjust the appropriate lighting level in the house based on the observed current optical conditions of the environment. Our offer also includes UV radiation sensors. Light and color sensor modules are equipped with the I2C bus, which allows them to work with platforms such as BeagleBone, Raspberry Pi or Arduino. These kind of devices will be very useful in building advanced Internet of Things projects and even robots.

How does the color sensors work in practice?

The color sensor is able to detect the color of a surface with high accuracy. The detection process takes place by irradiating the tested surface (most often with RGB diodes). This is how the color of the object you see is reflected. There is a process of interaction between the light falling on the object and you as the observer. In reflected light, the light striking the object will be completely reflected or partially absorbed depending on the optical characteristics of the object. For example, the surface of the green color will absorb most of the blue and red in the spectrum, thus making it appear greener to the observer than it actually is.

The ability to recognize colors by extracting their component colors is the most commonly used method. Basically, such technology finds more and more applications. This method uses a light source of variable color and a sensor that provides measurement information about the light intensity.

It is worth to mention that most of the industrial color sensors have a built-in white light source and three receiver diodes that emit light at 580 nm, 540 nm, and 450 nm. They are waves of red, green and blue color.

What is the result of all this? This method makes it possible to distinguish the entire spectrum of colors resulting from different amounts of these three colors. Color sensors have many uses. The presented products are suitable for identifying environmental parameters and sorting products. The segregation process takes place through visual identification based on different colors.

High-quality color and light sensors compatible with Arduino (and other programmable electronics)

The dusk sensors and color sensors presented in this category are very advanced products. However, contrary to appearances, they are used not only by companies and laboratories. You can successfully use them in your projects related to programmable electronics.

The offer of the Botland store includes highly functional modules from manufacturers such as SparkFun or Adafruit. Together with the other components, they allow you to build your own intelligent garden lighting system (and many other projects - it all depends on your imagination!). In the case of lighting systems, switching the ears on and off can be done with the TEMT6000 analog illuminance sensor. If it detects an appropriately set level of "no light", it will send the necessary control signal to Arduino (or other programmable electronics) in order to turn on the lighting.

Build your own robot with color detectors!

It is also worth paying attention to products with classic RGB LEDs and infrared filters. A great example is the color detector TCS34725. Such a product will allow you to build an intelligent robot that recognizes a wide range of colors. The sensor module requires only four wires to connect to the Arduino and it also works well as a color temperature meter.

Thanks to this, you can create a robot (also a walking robot) that will recognize when it is dark or when it is light. This is a very useful feature. It is easy to imagine a vacuum cleaner that starts after dusk or a coffee machine that starts with the first rays of sunlight reaching the apartment. Isn't it cool? Of course it is!