Skip to main content
This quickstart uploads room_basic, a one-prop example sketch, to an Arduino and connects it to a Room. The prop is a train door: the board’s built-in LED stands in for the door relay, and touching pin 2 to GND pulls the lever. You need no wiring.

​
Before you begin

  • A board: an Arduino UNO R4 WiFi or GIGA R1 WiFi, and a USB data cable. Use a spare board: uploading replaces its sketch.
  • Arduino IDE 2 or Arduino CLI on your computer.
  • Escape Director: a Room to test with, and the Room Station computer with Room Connector running and Chrome open. The board pairs over USB from that computer.
  • The SDK download: EscapeDirectorSDK-<version>.zip from the latest release.
1

Install the SDK

  1. In Arduino IDE, open Boards Manager and install Arduino UNO R4 Boards or Arduino Mbed OS Giga Boards.
  2. Open Library Manager and install ArduinoJson (version 7) and ArduinoMqttClient.
  3. Extract the SDK download.
  4. Choose Sketch → Include Library → Add .ZIP Library… and select the EscapeDirector-<version>.zip file inside the extracted folder, not the download itself.
If you can’t find these menus, see Arduino’s library guide. To use the command line instead, see Install with Arduino CLI.
2

Upload the example

  1. On a GIGA, attach its external Wi-Fi antenna.
  2. Choose File → Examples → EscapeDirector → room_basic.
  3. Select your board and its USB port. On a GIGA, choose the main M7 processor.
  4. Click Upload. Keep the board connected by USB.
3

Pair the board with your Room

Pair the board on the Room Station computer. The full steps are in Pair the controller. In short:
  1. Close Arduino IDE’s Serial Monitor. Room Connector needs the USB port.
  2. In the Room’s Devices, choose Add Integrated Device → Your own firmware (SDK), then Pair controller.
  3. Choose the Wi-Fi network. Controllers use 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi.
  4. Choose Save props to Room. Train door appears with its signal, commands and live state.
Never choose Install firmware for a board running your sketch. It replaces your sketch with Escape Director firmware.
4

Try the prop

  1. Turn on Test mode and run Open door. The LED lights for one second.
  2. Turn off Test mode. On the Train door prop, set Completes Puzzle to any Puzzle.
  3. Start a practice game and touch pin 2 to GND. The LED lights for five seconds, the prop shows Open, and the Puzzle completes.

​
Install with Arduino CLI

Run these commands from the extracted SDK folder. They pin the versions the SDK is tested with.
For a GIGA, install arduino:mbed_giga@4.6.0 and use --fqbn arduino:mbed_giga:giga. On Windows, run the same commands in PowerShell.

​
If the board doesn’t appear

Open the Serial Monitor at 115200 baud. If the sketch broke a rule, room.begin() prints the reason there. Close the Serial Monitor again before you pair. For other problems, see Troubleshoot SDK firmware.

​
Next

Add the SDK to your sketch