This Handheld RGB Scanner Picks Colors From Real Life Objects

As you journey through your day, you might see a white wall, a red rose, a blue car, or any number of other things. Colors, of course, surround us all the time, but accurately describing them to someone else is a bit of a gray area. If you’d like to compare colors, or just get a feel for RGB values, then this project by Michael Klements could be a great solution.

Klements' build uses an Arduino Pro Micro as the brains of the device, along with a 16x2 LCD panel to display color info. An optional RGB LED is implemented to reveal the actual color that it sees, effectively mirroring whatever is in front of its TCS34725 sensor. The video below shows all the electronics laid out of a breadboard, then soldered together and stuffed into its 3D-printed handheld enclosure for use.

If properly calibrated, it could serve as a useful tool for matching a color that you see in real life to something on a website or other document. One could even expand the gadget with automated movement control in order to create a simple scanner. The possibilities are endless, and such a project (which should work with any Arduino-style board that will fit) would be a great hands-on intro to this class of sensors.