In this video I'll demonstrate how to build a "rising pedestal" prop - which can be used as an impressive finale for a bank heist, art gallery, sci-fi, or other themed escape room.
A prize item is displayed on a platform of the pedestal, but is completely encased preventing players from accessing it. Instead, they must first solve a puzzle which triggers a relay to supply power to a linear actuator. This causes a rising platform to lift up, exposing the item through an access hole in the top of the pedestal!
The pedestal is assembled from MDF and plywood, with four 8mm steel rods and LM8UU bearings. The rising mechanism uses a 12V linear actuator, a dual-channel relay, controlled by an ESP32 (or Arduino/Raspberry Pi/STM32 etc.). The total cost of components and construction is under £100.
The pedestal motion is controlled by three simple functions in the code running on the controller: rise(), fall(), and stop(). These can be called from any of the examples I've previously demonstrated on this channel - e.g. based on a button input, a keypad, RFID, Hall sensor, or touch sensor, making it easy to integrate this prop into any sort of puzzle .

00:00:00 - 00:01:01 Introduction and Demonstration
00:01:02 - 00:03:26 Design
00:03:27 - 00:04:32 Physical Construction
00:04:33 - 00:07:07 Rising Platform
00:07:08 - 00:07:57 Electronic Controller
00:07:58 - 00:12:28 Wiring the Linear Actuator
00:12:29 - 00:18:45 Arduino / ESP32 code
00:18:46 - 00:19:56 Wrapup

If you enjoyed this video or found it helpful, please like and subscribe to this channel. And, if you'd like to download the resources used in all the escape room projects shown on this channel (and support me to continue making more tutorials in the future!), please check out my Patreon at   / playfultech  

#diy #arduino #escaperoom