feat(vl53l1x): Add proximity alert example with buzzer. by Kaanoz-en · Pull Request #337 · steamicc/micropython-steami-lib

Kaanoz-en · 2026-03-30T12:48:32Z

Summary

Add a proximity_alert.py example for the VL53L1X sensor driver. This script triggers a PWM buzzer when the measured distance falls below a defined threshold (200 mm), with the pitch dynamically adapting to the object's proximity.
Closes #325

Changes

Created the lib/vl53l1x/examples/proximity_alert.py file.
Initialized the VL53L1X sensor over I2C and added a continuous distance reading loop.
Configured the buzzer using hardware PWM on the SPEAKER pin.
Added logic to vary the beep frequency (from 1500 Hz when close, down to 500 Hz at 200 mm) based on the measured distance.
Included a try...except KeyboardInterrupt block to ensure the sound is properly turned off when the user stops the script with Ctrl+C.

Checklist

ruff check passes
python -m pytest tests/ -k mock -v passes (no mock test broken)
Tested on hardware (if applicable)
README updated (if adding/changing public API)
Examples added/updated (if applicable)
Commit messages follow <scope>: <Description.> format

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a new VL53L1X example that turns the board buzzer into a proximity alert by mapping measured distance to a PWM tone.

Changes:

Added proximity_alert.py example that reads VL53L1X distance continuously over I2C.
Configured hardware PWM on the SPEAKER pin and modulated pitch when distance is below a threshold.
Added Ctrl+C handling to silence the buzzer on user exit.

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Copilot · 2026-03-30T14:13:16Z

+# sensor configuration
+i2c = I2C(1)
+tof = VL53L1X(i2c)
+
+#buzzer initialisation
+buzzer_tim = Timer(1, freq=1000)
+buzzer_ch = buzzer_tim.channel(4, Timer.PWM, pin=Pin("SPEAKER"))
+buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0)


Ruff will flag these block comments because they don’t start with # (E265). Please add a space after # (and keep comment capitalization consistent with other examples).

I actually ran make lint locally and it passed without throwing any E265 errors, so it seems this specific rule might be ignored in our current Ruff configuration! That being said, you are absolutely right about standard formatting and consistency. I'll update the comments with the proper spacing and capitalization right away. Thanks for catching it!

Copilot · 2026-03-30T14:13:18Z

+            #frequency ranging from 1500 (really close) to 500 (at 200mm)
+            freq = (1500- (distance * 5))
+            #security limits
+            freq = max(500, min(1500, freq))


The frequency calculation has formatting that violates pycodestyle (selected by repo Ruff config): missing whitespace around operators (E225) and comment spacing (E265). Reformat this expression/comments so ruff check passes for examples too.

Good catch! You are right, I missed the space around the minus operator and the spaces after the hash in the comments. I've removed the redundant parentheses and updated the formatting to fully comply with PEP 8 and the E225/E265 rules. Thanks for pointing this out!

Copilot · 2026-03-30T14:13:19Z

+try:
+    while True:
+        distance = tof.read()
+        print("Distance: {} mm".format(distance))
+
+        if distance < DISTANCE_THRESHOLD_MM:
+            #frequency ranging from 1500 (really close) to 500 (at 200mm)
+            freq = (1500- (distance * 5))
+            #security limits
+            freq = max(500, min(1500, freq))
+
+            buzzer_tim.freq(freq)
+            buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(50)
+        else:
+            buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0)
+


tof.read() can raise OSError("VL53L1X data ready timeout") (see lib/vl53l1x/vl53l1x/device.py:_ensure_data). If that happens while the buzzer is on, this script will exit without silencing it. Consider using a try: ... finally: (or catching Exception) around the loop to always set the buzzer duty back to 0 before exiting.

This is an excellent point, I had handled the KeyboardInterrupt to prevent the PWM from running indefinitely, but I completely missed the potential OSError from the I2C bus timeouts. Moving the cleanup code to a finally: block is the perfect way to guarantee the buzzer is silenced no matter how the script exits. I'm updating the structure right away.

Copilot · 2026-03-30T14:13:20Z

+
+
+except KeyboardInterrupt:
+    buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C


Typo in the comment: CTLR+C should be CTRL+C.

Suggested change

buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C

buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTRL+C

You're right, there was indeed a typo, I fixed it.

Copilot · 2026-03-30T14:13:21Z

+
+
+except KeyboardInterrupt:
+    buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C


Inline comment spacing here will be flagged by Ruff/pycodestyle (E261/E262): inline comments should be preceded by at least two spaces and start with # .

Suggested change

buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C

buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) # Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C

The issue has been fixed

nedseb

Salut Kaan, bienvenue dans le projet ! 🎉

Très bon premier jet - le code sembler fonctionner, la logique est correcte, et le commit message est parfaitement formaté. Voici quelques retours pour coller aux conventions du projet.

✅ Ce qui est bien

Commit message parfait : feat(vl53l1x): Add proximity alert example with buzzer. — bon type, bon scope, majuscule, point final. 👍
Import sleep_ms depuis time (pas utime) — conforme aux conventions
Constante DISTANCE_THRESHOLD_MM bien nommée en haut du fichier
Fréquence variable selon la distance — c'est exactement le comportement "optionnel" décrit dans l'issue, bien joué
try/except KeyboardInterrupt pour couper le buzzer — bonne pratique

📝 À corriger

1. Docstring manquante en début de fichier

Tous les exemples du projet commencent par une docstring qui décrit ce que fait le script. Regarde par exemple lib/mcp23009e/examples/reaction_timer.py ou lib/bme280/examples/weather_station.py. Ajoute quelque chose comme :

"""Proximity alert using VL53L1X distance sensor and buzzer.

Beeps the buzzer when an object is detected within 200 mm. The pitch
increases as the object gets closer.
"""

2. Espaces après `#` dans les commentaires

Les commentaires doivent avoir un espace après le # (convention PEP 8, vérifié par ruff E265). Quelques endroits à corriger :

# Ligne 13
#buzzer initialisation       →  # Buzzer initialisation

# Ligne 24
#frequency ranging from...   →  # Frequency ranging from...

# Ligne 26
#security limits             →  # Clamp frequency to valid range

# Ligne 39
buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut...
→  buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0)  # Silence buzzer on exit

Note : les commentaires inline (en fin de ligne) doivent être précédés de deux espaces minimum.

💡 Astuce : ruff check passe ici parce que les exemples sont exclus de certaines règles. Mais les conventions de style s'appliquent quand même par cohérence avec le reste du projet.

3. Espacement autour des opérateurs

Ligne 25 :

freq = (1500- (distance * 5))    →  freq = 1500 - distance * 5

Les parenthèses extérieures sont aussi superflues ici.

4. Lignes vides en trop

Lignes 33-34 (double ligne vide avant sleep_ms) et lignes 36-37 (double ligne vide avant except). Une seule ligne vide suffit dans un bloc de code :

        else:
            buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0)

        sleep_ms(50)

except KeyboardInterrupt:

5. Robustesse : `try/finally` au lieu de `try/except`

Copilot l'a aussi noté : si tof.read() lève une OSError (timeout capteur), le buzzer reste allumé car KeyboardInterrupt ne l'attrape pas. Utilise try/finally qui garantit l'extinction dans tous les cas :

try:
    while True:
        distance = tof.read()
        ...
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    pass
finally:
    buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0)

6. Typo

Ligne 39 : CTLR+C → CTRL+C

🔧 Comment corriger

Fais les modifications sur ta branche feat/vl53l1x-proximity-alert
Vérifie avec ruff check lib/vl53l1x/examples/proximity_alert.py

Commite avec un message de fix, par exemple :

fix(vl53l1x): Address review comments on proximity alert example.

Pousse — la PR se mettra à jour automatiquement

Encore bravo pour cette première contribution, le code est fonctionnel et bien structuré. Les corrections sont surtout cosmétiques ! 🙂

# [0.11.0](v0.10.0...v0.11.0) (2026-03-30) ### Features * **vl53l1x:** Add proximity alert example with buzzer. ([#337](#337)) ([01d1206](01d1206))

semantic-release-updater · 2026-03-30T14:53:22Z

🎉 This PR is included in version 0.11.0 🎉

The release is available on:

v0.11.0
GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀

github-actions Bot assigned Kaanoz-en Mar 30, 2026

nedseb requested a review from Copilot March 30, 2026 14:10

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nedseb self-requested a review March 30, 2026 14:21

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nedseb mentioned this pull request Mar 30, 2026

tooling: Enable ruff preview rules for comment and operator spacing. #342

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Kaan Ozen added 2 commits March 30, 2026 16:49

feat(vl53l1x): Add proximity alert example with buzzer.

f308d05

fix(vl53l1x): Address review comments on proximity alert example.

55691fc

Kaanoz-en force-pushed the feat/vl53l1x-proximity-alert branch from 6cf9790 to 55691fc Compare March 30, 2026 14:51

Kaanoz-en merged commit 01d1206 into main Mar 30, 2026
9 checks passed

Kaanoz-en deleted the feat/vl53l1x-proximity-alert branch March 30, 2026 14:52

semantic-release-updater Bot pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 30, 2026

chore(release): v0.11.0. [skip ci]

7c1f087

# [0.11.0](v0.10.0...v0.11.0) (2026-03-30) ### Features * **vl53l1x:** Add proximity alert example with buzzer. ([#337](#337)) ([01d1206](01d1206))

semantic-release-updater Bot added the released label Mar 30, 2026

nedseb mentioned this pull request Mar 30, 2026

tooling: Enable ruff preview rules for comment and operator spacing #343

Merged

2 tasks



		except KeyboardInterrupt:
		buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C

	buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) #Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C
	buzzer_ch.pulse_width_percent(0) # Properly cut the sound when the user presses CTLR+C

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Kaanoz-en commented Mar 30, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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✅ Ce qui est bien

📝 À corriger

1. Docstring manquante en début de fichier

2. Espaces après # dans les commentaires

3. Espacement autour des opérateurs

4. Lignes vides en trop

5. Robustesse : try/finally au lieu de try/except

6. Typo

🔧 Comment corriger

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semantic-release-updater Bot commented Mar 30, 2026

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Kaanoz-en commented Mar 30, 2026 •

edited

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2. Espaces après `#` dans les commentaires

5. Robustesse : `try/finally` au lieu de `try/except`