Okay, so you know how you have eyes and you use them to see things, right? Well, an optical sensor is kind of like a special "eye" that helps machines or computers "see" things too.
Instead of being made of parts like your eyes are, an optical sensor is made up of special electronic parts that can detect light. Light is what helps us see things, and the sensor can detect different types of light, like colors or brightness.
When the sensor detects light, it sends a signal to a computer or machine so that it knows what the light is like. That computer or machine can then use that information to do all sorts of things, like controlling a robot arm, helping a camera focus, or even counting how many people are walking through a door.
So in short, an optical sensor is a special electronic eye that can detect different types of light, and then sends that information to a computer or machine to do something useful.