Cytron Maker Reflect IR Reflectance Sensor for Beginner

The Cytron Maker Reflect IR Reflectance Sensor is a compact and beginner-friendly module designed to help learners understand how infrared reflectance works in robotics and automation.

Using an IR LED and a high-sensitivity phototransistor, it measures how much IR light bounces back from a surface and generates an analog voltage that’s easy for any microcontroller to read. This makes it perfect for exploring concepts like surface detection, black-and-white line following, and reflectivity measurement.

Designed by Cytron with simplicity in mind, this sensor is ideal for kids, students, and makers stepping into DIY robotics projects. Its ultra-small size and centered mounting hole allow it to fit even in tight robot designs, while its 3.3V and 5V compatibility ensures smooth use with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and all common controllers.

Whether you’re building a line follower, Sumo bot, maze robot, or encoder-based mechanism, the Maker Reflect delivers reliable IR performance with minimal setup.

Features:

• Works as a hands-on IR reflectance sensor that uses an IR LED + phototransistor to measure surface reflectivity for reliable detection.
• Helps beginners learn analog sensing, line detection, object presence, and robot navigation, building strong STEM fundamentals.
• Built with safe, durable Cytron components, ensuring stable performance even in beginner-level DIY robotics projects.
• Fully compatible with 3.3V and 5V systems, making it easy to interface with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, microcontrollers, and robotics platforms.
• Offers a sensing distance of 1mm to 40mm at 5V (ideal for black/white surface detection and line following).
• Provides analog voltage output, allowing smooth interpretation of different surface colors and reflectivity.
• Compact size of 18.1mm × 8.4mm × 4.2mm, with a centered mounting hole for accurate positioning at the front of robots.
• Suitable for school projects, robotics clubs, and maker experiments – perfect for line followers, Sumo robots, maze solvers, and encoder wheels.
• Makes a great STEM learning gift for young robotics enthusiasts and beginners exploring IR sensors.