Sensors

Touch Sensors - Same as motors, just different syntax.

import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.TouchSensor;

public TouchSensor touchSensor;

touchSensor = hardwareMap.get(TouchSensor.class, ("touchSensor"));

Distance Sensors

import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.DistanceSensor;

public DistanceSensor distance;

distance = hardwareMap.get(DistanceSensor.class, "name");

Color Sensors

import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.NormalizedColorSensor;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.NormalizedRGBA;

NormalizedColorSensor colorSensor;

colorSensor = hardwareMap.get(NormalizedColorSensor.class, "name");

Example opMode SensorColor to use color sensors

IMU

The IMU or Internal Measurement Unit, is a very useful tool to find the robot orientation

import com.qualcomm.hardware.bosch.BNO055IMU;
import com.qualcomm.hardware.bosch.JustLoggingAccelerationIntegrator;

public BNO055IMU imu;    //imu module inside expansion hub
public Orientation angles;     //imu uses these to find angles and classify them
public Acceleration gravity;    //Imu uses to get acceleration

BNO055IMU.Parameters parameters = new BNO055IMU.Parameters();
parameters.angleUnit = BNO055IMU.AngleUnit.DEGREES;
parameters.accelUnit = BNO055IMU.AccelUnit.METERS_PERSEC_PERSEC;
parameters.calibrationDataFile = "BNO055IMUCalibration.json"; // see the calibration sample opmode
parameters.loggingEnabled = true;
parameters.loggingTag = "IMU";
parameters.accelerationIntegrationAlgorithm = new JustLoggingAccelerationIntegrator();
imu = hardwareMap.get(BNO055IMU.class, "imu");
imu.initialize(parameters);
angles = imu.getAngularOrientation(AxesReference.INTRINSIC, AxesOrder.ZYX, AngleUnit.DEGREES);
gravity = imu.getGravity();
imu.startAccelerationIntegration(new Position(), new Velocity(), 1000);

To get the heading, use angles.firstAngle for most control hub configurations. You might have to change this based on how your control hub is mounted.

Example opMode SensorBNO055IMU

Indicators

Digital LED Indicators are a very good way to get feedback from your robot. It is helpful because it can show you what is happening inside the robot and code.

import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.DigitalChannel;

public DigitalChannel red1;
public DigitalChannel green1;

This will follow the same pattern of all the sensors

red1 = hardwareMap.get(DigitalChannel.class, "red1");
green1 = hardwareMap.get(DigitalChannel.class, "green1");

red1.setMode(DigitalChannel.Mode.OUTPUT);//required to use indicators
green1.setMode(DigitalChannel.Mode.OUTPUT);

Call it in your code with green1.setState(false); red1.setState(true); or the inverse, setting green to true and red to false.

Built-in functions

red1.setMode(DigitalChannel.Mode.OUTPUT);//required to use indicators
green1.setMode(DigitalChannel.Mode.OUTPUT);
green1.setState(false);
red.setState(true);
distance.getDistance(DistanceUnit.CM)//this is how you would call to get a distance, other options are MM, M, and INCHES
NormalizedRGBA color = colorSensor.getNormalizedColors();//this and the one below are how you get colors from the color sensors
Color.colorToHSV(color.toColor(), hsvValues);
touchSensor.isPressed()//will return true if it is pressed

Last modified: 20 March 2025