The SparkFun VR IMU Breakout provides an incredibly accurate orientation sensor, opening the door to virtual reality development without requiring you to drop hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars just to gain access to the underlying hardware. At its heart lies CEVA®’s BNO086, a combination triple-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer System in Package (SiP) driven by a built-in 32-bit ARM© Cortex™ M0+ processor.

This Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) processes all the raw sensor data on the chip itself, providing you with combined, drift-corrected, and meaningful orientation information immediately after activation.

Accurate Rotation Vectors: Produces accurate rotation vector headings with a static rotation error of two degrees or less, making it perfectly suited for VR headsets and complex motion tracking.
Enhanced Upgrades: As a direct drop-in replacement for the EOL BNO080, this upgraded chip features 14-bit accelerometer fusion, reduced idle state power consumption, and Interactive Calibration.
Built-in Activity Tracking: Features built-in algorithms for step counting and activity classification (such as detecting when the user is riding a bike).

Connectivity Options

This IMU breakout board is equipped with two I2C Qwiic connectors, making interfacing with the tiny QFN package incredibly easy. As part of SparkFun’s Qwiic connect system, you won’t have to solder to get your sensor up and running. However, we have still broken out the standard 0.1-inch-spaced pins if you prefer to prototype on a breadboard.

A SparkFun BNO086 VR IMU Breakout connected to an ESP32 RedBoard via Qwiic.

Because of the capabilities this sensor is capable of, it comes with a complex interface that provides multiple ways to communicate:

Default I2C: Connects effortlessly via the Qwiic system. You can use the on-board solder jumpers to switch between two different I2C addresses (0x4B default, or 0x4A).

Alternative Protocols: If I2C is not your preferred communication method, the sensor can easily be configured to communicate over SPI or UART.

To help you get started as quickly as possible, we have written an extensive I2C-based library that easily outputs the rotation vector, acceleration, gyro, and magnetometer readings you need. Whether you are building custom VR hardware or deploying a robotic navigation system, the SparkFun VR IMU Breakout provides the precise motion data your project demands.

Features & Specs: