Sensor

Sensor


Function:	Sensors can be set up to activate ship systems when they detects pl...
DLC?	Vanilla

Fits small grid
Mass:	0 kg
Hitpoints:	515
PCU:	25
Size:	1x1x1
Time to Build:	6 sec

Fits large grid
Mass:	0 kg
Hitpoints:	515
PCU:	25
Size:	1x1x1
Time to Build:	6 sec

Data Controls:	[purge] (?))

A Sensor is a functional block designed to automatically detect proximity events and trigger actions in its grid.

To detect other grid events, see also Event Controller. To trigger actions in other grids, see Action Relay.

The Automaton Sensor is a variant with the same functionality and same recipe; you can build it only if you have purchased the Automatons Pack DLC.

Usage

Sensors are useful for base automation: Use them to control autonomous drone behaviour, open and close airlocks and hangar doors, toggle motion detection lights, protect players from lethal grinders, and enforce security (proximity alerts, traps).

You can set the Sensor's detection range to up to 50 meters in any direction.

The short version of the usage is:

Place the sensor.
Open its Control Panel Screen.
Enter the detection range.
Set up which targets to detect.
Select which actions to trigger.

Usage examples

Detect friendly players and automatically open doors.
Detect hostile players and spring a trap.
Automatically de- and re-pressurize the airlock to save oxygen.
Make a PBW detect the proximity of the enemy ships and ignite a warhead.
Make a station detect an approaching friendly drone and open the hangar doors.
Make a construction ship detect players in range of its lethal grinder/welder and automatically switch off.
Make a 3D printer welder detect the proximity of the grid being welded and withdraw the welder arms a bit to not collide when proceeding.

Sensors can also switch off and on other sensors, which is useful in a longer action sequence: Use them to prevent a sequence from starting too early while the first one is ongoing. This is relevant, for example, for automatic airlocks or docking sequences.

How many sensors do I need?

To trigger the same actions for different targets in the same range, you can use the same sensor.
To trigger different actions for different targets in the same range, set up separate sensors, one for each action.
To trigger actions for targets in different ranges, set up separate sensors, one for each range.

How to set up the range

You can place the sensor any way round you want and it will work. It's easier to configure facing forward, because then the directional labels make sense. Interpret the directional labels in the control panel relative to where the sensor is facing, and not where you are facing.

To make the detection ranges visible, open the Info Screen and enable Show sensors field range.
Open the sensor's Control Panel Screen and enable Show on HUD.
Define the extend of the detection range in six directions: left, right, top, bottom, back, front.

The minimum extend is a 0.1 metre cube around the sensor. The largest extend is 50m.

Whose proximity can it detect?

You can set up sensors to detect any combination of the following:

players (not seated!)
- owner, friendly, neutral, or enemy
small ships and small blocks
large ships and large blocks
floating objects (scrap, ores, tools, ammo, and materials)
stations and platforms
subgrids
asteroids (including voxel ground on planets)

Caveats: Players inside cockpit blocks or cryopods or (control or toilet) seats are not detected as players! Sensors only detect players on foot or jetpacking. Sitting down will disrupt the detection.^[1] See also the related SEAT mod.

How to detect ship damage

To detect damage to or grinding of specific functional blocks, use an Event Controller instead.

To detect weapon or collision damage to armor: When blocks are destroyed, they drop floating Scrap Metal, which is an indicator of damage even after the blocks are gone.

Build several sensors and make their ranges cover sections of your ship that can be quickly inspected by an engineer in one go (e.g. one room, one hallway), including walls, floors, ceilings, overlaps with walls of neighbouring rooms are possible.

Set the sensors up to detect "floating objects" and set up the trigger to switch on a labelled red warning light. If one or more warnings light up, you know there is damage in that room, or between these two rooms.

How to detect oxygen levels

If you need a sensor that triggers actions based on oxygen levels in a closed room, use an Air Vent instead.

How to detect gunshots

If you need a sensor that detects if it was hit by weapon fire to trigger an action, use a Target Dummy instead.

How to detect other events

To detect a broader variety of events, such as mechanical block positions or cargo fill levels and more, use an Event Controller instead.

How to set up actions

How to set up proximity alerts

The simplest sensor action is to enable the checkbox for "audible proximity alert". The sensor will audibly tick three times when it is triggered.

This option is helpful while testing (assuming you are in audible range) or to purposely alert players of the sensor's presence -- so they know its an automatic airlock, for example.

To mute the audible proximity alert, for example for a trap, disable this setting.

How to set up the sensor's actions

An action can be anything available for blocks in the Control Panel Screen of the same grid.

To define actions, click the Set up Actions button of the sensor.

A sensor has two action slots:

In the left slot, assign the action to trigger when the target enters the range.
In the right slot, assign the action to trigger when the target leaves the range.

To set up an action for a slot, search for the block, -click the block icon, and select the action from the menu.

To change the action to trigger, but keep the selected block, -click the slot and select a new action from the menu.

To reset the action and the block, -click the slot and select Remove from Toolbar.

You can assign actions to either one or both slots, or leave them empty. But you cannot assign the same action to both slots.

How to trigger up to 9 actions

To trigger up to nine actions, click Set up actions, press CTRL key+1 key to 9 key to select one of nine toolbars with two slots each, and assign actions to these nine slots.

How to trigger 10 or more actions

Timer blocks can trigger up to 99 actions each, including triggering another timer.

To trigger more than nine actions:

Build two Timer Blocks (TB)
Define up to 99 actions for when the target enters the range in one TB.
Define up to 99 actions for when the target leaves the range in the other TB.
Assign the respective Timer Start actions to one of the two sensor action slots.

How to repeat actions

The actions are triggered once by the first detected target that enters or leaves, respectively. The action does not automatically repeat while the condition is met.

To repeat actions:

Build and set up Timers as just described.
To create the loop, make the last action of one timer block re-start itself.
To end the loop, make another sensor or another timer's last action stop the first timer.

Is this thing on?

The sensor has a status indicator light:

When the Sensor light is red, the Sensor is switched off or unpowered, and does not detect anything.
When the light is green, the sensor is powered and ready to detect something (if anything was configured).
When the light is blue, it is detecting something and it has triggered actions (if any were set up).

Construction

If progression is enabled, build any light first to unlock this block.

This block exists for large as well as small grid and is very cheap to build as soon as you have a Basic Assembler (or have looted detector components).

You are building the block right side up when it looks like a one-eyed face with a mouth below. The "eye" is facing in the front direction in terms of range setting. It also works fine in other orientations but then you have to rotate the directional labels in your head accordingly.

The block is visually small, but in large grid, you cannot build anything else in its 1x1x1 space.

Recipe

Sensor
Component	Large Ship/Station Required	Large Ship/Station Optional	Small Ship Required	Small Ship Optional
Steel Plate	2	—	2	—
Computer	1	—	1	—
Detector Components	1	—	1	—
Construction Comp.	2	—	2	—