Adafruit 9-DOF Orientation IMU Fusion Breakout - BNO085 (BNO080) - STEMMA QT / Qwiic

The BNO085 from Hillcrest Laboratories is a 9-DOF IMU with built-in sensor fusion — it combines accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer data on-chip and delivers ready-to-use orientation, motion detection and activity classification outputs. No external sensor fusion algorithms needed.

The BNO085 uses the same hardware as the BNO055 but runs Hillcrest's SH-2 firmware, which provides significantly more output types including AR/VR-optimised rotation vectors, tap/step/shake detection, and activity classification. It also fixes the SPI timeout bug present in the BNO080, and is fully backward-compatible with BNO080 code.

Sensor Fusion Outputs

• Rotation Vector – Four-point quaternion for accurate orientation
• AR/VR Rotation Vectors – Optimised for augmented/virtual reality with low latency
• Linear Acceleration – Acceleration minus gravity in m/s²
• Gravity Vector – Gravitational acceleration in m/s²
• Calibrated Accelerometer, Gyro & Magnetometer – Individual sensor readings available simultaneously
• Uncalibrated + Raw Outputs – ADC-level data for custom processing

Detection & Classification

• Activity Classification – Identifies movement type (walking, running, still, etc.)
• Stability Detection – Reports stable vs unstable states
• Tap Detector – Single and double tap detection
• Step Detector & Counter – Pedometer functionality
• Shake Detector – Identifies shake gestures
• Significant Motion Detector – Triggers on meaningful movement

Key Features

• On-Chip Sensor Fusion – ARM Cortex M0 processor running Hillcrest SH-2 firmware
• Multiple Interfaces – I2C, SPI and UART supported
• UART-RVC Mode – Simple heading and acceleration output over UART, ideal for robot vacuum cleaners and basic orientation tasks
• STEMMA QT / Qwiic Connectors – Solderless I2C connection
• Wide Voltage Range – 3–5V power and logic with on-board regulator and level shifting
• External Crystal – 32.768 kHz crystal for stable reference

BNO085 vs BNO055

• Same hardware (accelerometer, gyro, magnetometer)
• BNO085 runs Hillcrest SH-2 firmware with significantly more output types
• BNO085 adds AR/VR rotation vectors, activity classification, tap/step/shake detection
• BNO085 provides calibrated, uncalibrated and raw sensor outputs simultaneously
• BNO085 includes UART-RVC mode for simple heading output

Also Available

• BNO055 STEMMA QT – Simpler sensor fusion with Euler angle output
• BNO055 Breakout – Original BNO055 breakout board

Ideal For

• Robotics and drone navigation
• AR/VR head tracking and motion controllers
• Activity and gesture recognition
• Robot vacuum cleaners (UART-RVC mode)
• Motion tracking and orientation sensing

Package Contents

• 1× Adafruit BNO085 IMU Fusion Breakout with STEMMA QT (assembled and tested)
• 1× Header strip