The Yocto-Proximity is a USB proximity sensor. It uses a pretty simple principle: the sensor part emits pulsed infrared light and measures reflection on nearby objects. Thanks to filters, ambient infrared light has very little effect on it, as long as the detector is not saturated. Beware, the sensor performance depends directly on the target color: a white object can be detected up to ~10cm, but a black and mat object can be detected up to ~2cm only.

The Yocto-Proximity can also give estimation of visible and infrared ambient light. Measurements can be read directly via USB or stored on the device internal flash for later retrieval when connected again by USB.

This device has been designed so that the sensor itself can be moved away from the USB part by a few meters: simply split the board into two parts and solder a 4-wire cable on the designated pads.