Sensor

Sensor


Category:	Functional
Function:	Triggers events when objects enter or leave its detection range.

Fits small grid
Mass:	0 kg
Range:	0.1-50 m
PCU:	25
Size:	1x1x1
Time to Build:	6 sec

Fits large grid
Mass:	0 kg
Range:	0.1-50 m
PCU:	25
Size:	1x1x1
Time to Build:	6 sec

Data Controls:	[edit] [purge] (?)

A Sensor is a functional block designed to automatically detect certain events in close range and trigger actions.

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 automation and for drone behaviour: opening and closing airlocks and hangar doors, motion detection lights, protecting players from lethal grinders, and 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 the Control Panel Screen.
Enter the detection range.
Set up which targets to detect.
Select which actions to trigger.

For a related block that can detect more events, see also Event Controller.

Usage examples

Make your base detect friendly players inside and automatically open airlocks. With additional Timer Blocks, you can even 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 a friendly drone and open the hangar doors.
Make a construction ship detect players in front of its grinder and welder and automatically switch them off until the player has left the lethal area of effect.
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 to prevent a new sequence from starting too early while the first one is ongoing. This is relevant, for example, for automatic airlocks or docking sequences.

How to set up the range

You can place the sensor any way round you want and it will work, but it's easier to configure facing forward. 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.

What 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

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 many sensors do I need?

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

How to detect oxygen levels

If you need a sensor for oxygen levels, use an Air Vent instead.

How to detect damage

To detect any damage, e.g. to armor blocks: 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. Set the sensors up to detect "floating objects" and set up the trigger to switch on a red warning light or play a sound. See also How to build warning lights.

To detect damage to specific functional blocks, use an Event Controller.

How to detect other events

To detect a broader variety of events, use an Event Controller instead.

How to set up actions

The simplest action is to enable the checkbox for "audible proximity alert". The sensor will quickly 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 (at an airlock, for example). To mute the audible proximity alert, disable this setting.

Click the Set up Actions button. Each sensor has two action slots:

The left slot is the action to trigger when the target enters the range.
The right slot is the action to trigger when the target leaves the range.

An action can be anything available in the Control Panel Screen of the grid. To set up an available action, -click a block icon in the toolbar config and select an action from the icon's menu. The first selection becomes the range entering action, and the second becomes the range leaving action.

To change an assigned action, but keep the block, -click the slot and select a new action from the menu.
To reset the action, -click the action slot and select Remove from Toolbar.

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

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. Use Timer Blocks for that!

If you need the sensor to trigger more than one action, build two Timer Blocks, one to do the actions and one to reset. Set up your actions inside the timers, and assign the start action if the timers to the two sensor slots.
To repeat actions, do the same, but additionally make the last action of the timer block re-start itself; and make the second timer action reset and stop the first timer.

Is this thing on?

When the 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.
When the light is blue, it has detected something, and 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	—