VL6180X TIME OF FLIGHT DISTANCE SENSOR

The sensor has a small invisible laser source, a matching sensor. It can detect the "time of flight" or time it takes for the light to bounce back to the sensor. It is ideal for determining distance of only the surface directly in front of it because of the narrow light source.  The VL6180X is a lot more precise than IR distance sensors that measure how much light bounced and the VL6180X doesn't have linearity issues or 'double imaging' where you can't tell if an object is far away or close by.

Don't forget to remove the protective cover off the sensor, it may be a clear or slightly tinted plastic! Otherwise you will get incorrect readings.

You can wire this breakout to a microcontroller like the Arduino Uno. For another microcontrollers, make sure it has I2C, port the API code.