IR Infrared Obstacle Avoidance Sensor With ATOM Matrix ESP32

2026-06-04 | By Ron Cutts

License: GNU Lesser General Public License Infrared (IR) Arduino ESP32

In this tutorial, we are going to use an infrared (IR) obstacle avoidance sensor with the ATOM Matrix ESP32. If there is no obstacle detected, a green light will be visible, and if the sensor detects an obstacle, a red light will be visible.

Watch the video!

Learn more about Visuino: What is Visuino

What You Will Need

What You Will Need photo 2

What You Will Need photo 3

What You Will Need photo 4

The Circuit

Connect the IR Obstacle Avoidance Sensor pin [VCC] to the Atom Matrix pin [5V]
Connect the IR Obstacle Avoidance Sensor pin [GND] to the Atom Matrix pin [GND]
Connect the IR Obstacle Avoidance Sensor pin [Out] to the Atom Matrix pin [G25]

The Circuit

Start Visuino, and Select the Atom Matrix Board Type

Start Visuino as shown in the first picture. Click on the "Tools" button on the Arduino component (Picture 1) in Visuino. When the dialog appears, select "Atom Matrix" as shown in Picture 2

Start Visuino, and Select the Atom Matrix Board Type

Start Visuino, and Select the Atom Matrix Board Type photo 2

In Visuino, Add Components

Add "Obstacle Avoidance Sensor" component
Add "Digital To Color" component

With "Digital To Color" component, we are going to set the Color based on the Digital input (True or False)

In Visuino Add Components

In Visuino Add Components photo 2

In Visuino Set Components

Select "M5 Stack ATOM Matrix" board in the properties window, expand "Modules">"RGB Matrix">"Elements", and click on the 3 dots button
In the "Elements" window, drag "Fill Screen" to the left side and in the properties window select "Color" and click on the Pin Icon and select "Alpha Color SinkPin"
Close the "Elements" window

Select "DigitalToColor1" and in the properties window, set "False Value" to clRed and "True Value" to clGreen

In Visuino Set Components

In Visuino Set Components photo 2

In Visuino Set Components photo 3

In Visuino Set Components photo 4

In Visuino Connect Components

Connect "M5 Stack ATOM Matrix" pin [GPIO 25] to "ObstacleAvoidance1" pin [In]
Connect "ObstacleAvoidance1" pin [Out] to "DigitalToColor1" pin [In]
Connect "DigitalToColor1" pin [Out] to "M5 Stack ATOM Matrix" > "Fill Screen1" pin [Color]
Connect "DigitalToColor1" pin [Out] to "M5 Stack ATOM Matrix" > "Fill Screen1" pin [Clock]

In Visuino Connect Components

In Visuino Connect Components photo 2

Generate, Compile, and Upload the Arduino Code

In Visuino, at the bottom, click on the "Build" tab, make sure the correct port is selected, then click on the "Compile/Build and Upload" button.

Generate, Compile, and Upload the Arduino Code

Play

If you power the ATOM Matrix module, the display will start to show a green color, and you can put an obstacle in front of the obstacle IR sensor, and the display will show a red color.

Congratulations! You have completed your project with Visuino. Also attached is the Visuino project that I created for this tutorial. You can download it and open it in Visuino: https://www.visuino.eu