Maker Reflect: IR Reflectance Sensor for Beginners

Maker Reflect is a tiny reflectance sensor which consists of an infra-red (IR) LED that transmits IR light onto a surface and a phototransistor measures how much light is reflected back. The output is in analog voltage - the more IR light that is sensed by the phototransistor, the lower the voltage.

Typically this sensor is used in a line following robot as the white surfaces reflect more IR than black surfaces. However, it is not limited to line following, there are many more applications which can utilise the Maker Reflect:

• Edge/Border sensor in Sumo robot
• Wall sensor in maze solving robot
• Short distance object detector (presence sensor)
• Sensor for rotary wheel encoder
• ...and more!

Measuring only 18.1mm x 8.4mm x 4.2mm (excluding the header pin), this tiny sensor can be easily fitted in the tightest space available on your robot project.

We designed the sensor so that the mounting hole is at the center, allowing the module to be mounted at the front-most position. This is especially important in Sumo robots!

Features:

• Operating Voltage: 3.3V and 5V Compatible
• Sensing Distance (Height): 1mm to 40mm (Vcc = 5V, Black line on white surface)
• Output: Analog Voltage (White surface = lower voltage)

Documents:

• Datasheet