Escape room controllers and hardware

Some of our clients mistakenly believe that the logic of the room is executed via the controllers of Queen Board or Unisense. In reality, these controllers are just the elements responsible for simple commands like switching the 3rd channel of the relay or reading the signal from the 5th channel of the ADC. All control logic is executed in the Queen Software.

Queen Pack is not just a board or a regular PLC controller that you need to buy additional sources, terminal blocks and other components for. Our pack is an "in a box" automation solution that can be assembled as a kids constructor using our detailed instructions. The basic set for the game control includes 15 relays, 15 powerful PWM channels, 15 digital and 15 analog inputs along with the power supply system. You will only have to connect locks, lights and sensors. If an expanded set of inputs / outputs is required, we will add the expansion cards to the Queen Pack or, as an option, you can use general-purpose PLCs, such as Controllino. Our QUEEN software supports them as well.

Queen Pack goes through double testing - the first time is once as all the individual elements, including all printed circuit boards leave the factory. Then, right before sending, the Queen Pack is assembled using same tools included in the pack and is fully tested again: all I / O lines, power supply drawdowns load, sound subsystem and QUEEN PC as a control computer are thoroughly checked.

The most likely point the electronics can be spoiled is the process of wiring and the moment of the first launch. If this happens, it is usually caused by connection mistakes. We have some security features, however, the chance that the situation leading to damages will arise, still exists. Normally such situations do not occur often. The equipment is designed to serve for 24/7/365 without rebooting, after the Queen Pack is mounted and the room is launched, with an average chance of failing once in 1.5 years. That is, on average, once a year and a half, when the failures of individual components can happen, that usually can be replaced within 1 hour if they are in stock.

Queen Pack is a modular system. All components, except for our printed circuit boards, are easy to purchase in stores and popular marketplaces such as Amazon, E-bay, Aliexpress. We provide the information about the models of all components and their requirements. We can also give ready links to buy specific components, although initially we do not publish links as they change often. Thus, the stock can be quickly and inexpensively replenished. We recommend you to always keep one extra item for each component in stock, this is especially beneficial if you have more than one room automated by the QUEEN system. The replacement of any module (power supply, terminal block or audio amplifier) ​​can be done within a few tens of minutes. We also recommend conducting electronics tests every morning, at the beginning of the shift, in order to detect any issues before the start of gaming sessions and have a spare hour for fix up.

Based on our experience, we made the elements, that are most likely to get damaged on our boards, removable, they are not soldered to the board, they are replaceable. They are also easy and cheap to buy and replace like other modules. As a microcontroller, we specifically took the readily accessible Arduino controllers with open firmware, and for the interface drivers we use public chips MAX202CPE and MAX485, that are located on the boards in special beds. We also recommend leaving one channel of each type free so that if, for example, one relay or a PWM channel gets burned, you will be able to quickly "transfer" two wires to a backup working channel and simply rebind a new address channel in our graphic editor QUEEN Studio. This can be easily done within a few minutes, such mechanics organization significantly increases the resiliency of the system in general.

We assess such situations as extremely rare to happen, but if they do, the board should be replaced, and we recommend having one extra Queen Board in stock for this purpose. Full remounting can be done within a few hours. Next, you will ship a faulty Queen Board to us and we will send you a replacement or will repair the disfunctional one under warranty provided that the damage is not mechanical or the board has not melted. Shipping costs are not included, but we will take care of everything else in terms of repairs and replacement of individual defective items and testing.

More than half of the equipment cost is the actual cost of purchased hardware, such as power supplies, raspberry pi, sound subsystem, etc. PLC Queen Board priced at {{currency:300|10}} adds to the total, the rest is a small margin for dual testing and intellectual property. If you buy the Controllino PLC executive board instead of the Queen Board, the price will be about the same - {{currency:300|10}} , however the Queen Board has more flexible settings, as it was originally developed for the escape room target needs. Let's look at few examples. Philips HUE lighting: 15 bulbs at {{currency:20|1}} - {{currency:30|1}} will come out at {{currency:300|10}} - {{currency:400|10}} , while up to 15 channels of LED tapes costing only {{currency:3|1}} - {{currency:4|1}} for tape per channel can be connected to the Queen Board. Considering the lighting only, the Queen Board already pays for itself. As for DMX, one RGB tape controller costs {{currency:60|3}} - {{currency:100|5}} , and Queen comes with 5 built-in channels for them. We did the research before making PCBs and made the Queen Pack one of the cheapest solutions on the current market, featuring optimal characteristics for escape games automation.