RGB and Gesture Sensor APDS-9960 Breakout Module GY-9960 3.3v
Touchless gestures are the new frontier in the world of human-machine interfaces. By swiping your hand over a sensor, you can control a computer, microcontroller, robot, etc. One manufacturer has even created a touchless toilet that flushes when you move your hand over the tank. The Avago APDS-9960 offers ambient light and color (as clear, red, green, and blue) measuring, proximity detection, and gesture sensing.

With this RGB and Gesture Sensor you will be able to control a computer, microcontroller, robot, and more with a simple swipe of your hand! This is, in fact, the same sensor that the Samsung Galaxy S5 uses and is probably one of the best gesture sensors on the market for the price.

The APDS-9960 is a serious little piece of hardware with built in UV and IR blocking filters, four separate diodes sensitive to different directions, and an I2C compatible interface. 

The following pins are broken out: 

* VL (optional power to IR LED), 
* GND (Ground), 
* VCC (power to APDS-9960 sensor), 
* SDA (I2C data), 
* SCL (I2C clock), and 
* INT (interrupt)


The APDS-9960 has a detection range of 4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm).

* Operational Voltage: 3.3V
* Ambient Light & RGB Color Sensing
* Proximity Sensing
* Gesture Detection
* Operating Range: 4-8in (10-20cm)
* I2C Interface (I2C Address: 0x39)

Supported Gestures

Here is a list of the currently supported gestures. Make sure each gesture begins outside of the range of the sensor, moves into the range of the sensor, and ends outside the range of the sensor.

Gesture Description
UP A swipe from the bottom of the board to the top and out of range of the sensor. Make sure that your wrist/arm is not in the sensor's range at the end of the swipe!
DOWN A swipe from the top of the board to the bottom and out of range of the sensor.
LEFT A swipe from the right side of the board to the left and out of range of the sensor.
RIGHT A swipe from the left side of the board to the right and out of range of the sensor.
NEAR Object (e.g. hand) starts far above the sensor, moves close to the sensor, hovers for at least 1 second, and moves out of range of the sensor.
FAR Object starts near the sensor, hovers for at least 1 second, and then moves up above and out of range of the sensor.
NONE The sensor could not correctly guess the gesture being performed.


Going Further

Now that you have seen the gesture recognition capabilities of the APDS-9960, you can begin to use it in your project! Keep in mind that the APDS-9960 is also capable of sensing object proximity and ambient/color light. Try out the other examples in the SparkFun Arduino SFE_APDS9960 library to see what the sensor can do:

AmbientLightInterrupt – This example shows how you can generate an Arduino interrupt whenever the ambient light falls below a given level. You can also change it to throw an interrupt when the light rises above a certain level.
ColorSensor – This demo shows how to read ambient, red, green, and blue light values from the APDS-9960.
GestureTest – We uséd this example in this hookup guide. It shows how to read basic gestures with the APDS-9960.
ProximityInterrupt – The APDS-9960 can be uséd to detect when objects move within range of its sensor. This example shows how to throw an interrupt whenever an object moves within a certain range of the sensor. You can also change the limits to generate an interrupt whenever an object moves outside of a certain range.
ProximitySensor – You do not need to use interrupts with the proximity sensor. In this demo, we show you how to poll the sensor for proximity data at regular intervals. Try running this example and moving your hand close to the sensor.