A globe. A song.
That’s it.

The pedestal reads the sticker under your globe. Bluetooth tells this page which song to play. Your computer plays the music through its selected speaker—not through the Arduino.

Get started

Power the pedestal. Remove any globe before turning it over. Open the bottom cover, attach the prepared 9 V battery lead to the Arduino, and close the pedestal. Hold or secure the removable top plate.
Choose your speaker. For a Bluetooth speaker, pair it with the computer in system settings and select it as the sound output. The pedestal and speaker are two separate connections.
Connect. Open the player in desktop Chrome or Edge, turn on Bluetooth, and click the circle. Select ESC Pedestal from the browser’s pop-up and confirm.
Place a globe. Its song starts automatically. Leave it on the pedestal to keep playing. Lift it to stop. Use Volume to adjust playback.

What the player shows

The song title, elapsed time, duration, playback state, Bluetooth connection, and NFC reader status come from the browser and pedestal. “Computer’s selected speaker” means the output you chose in system settings; the page does not know the speaker’s name. We do not measure battery percentage or radio signal strength.

If something isn’t working

No device in the pop-up? Check power and Bluetooth. Disconnect the pedestal from any other computer or diagnostic app, then try again.
No sound? Click Test speaker on the player. Check the computer’s output, volume, and tab mute setting. If the browser blocks audio, click Enable sound.
Reader needs attention? Check the NFC reader wiring with the battery disconnected. The RC522 uses 3.3 V, never 5 V.
Wrong browser? Use desktop Chrome or Edge on macOS or Windows. Safari and Firefox cannot connect to this player. Online hosting requires HTTPS; local testing works on localhost.
Disconnected? Playback stops. Check the battery and click Connect again.

During your session

Keep the player tab open and your computer awake. The pedestal needs our BLE firmware installed once before use; teammates do not need Arduino software for normal operation. Disconnect the battery when finished. Battery runtime and operation through the final closed enclosure still need testing.

Under the hood

NFC sticker → RC522 reader → Arduino UNO R4 WiFi → Bluetooth LE → browser → computer speaker. No Wi-Fi password, room code, account, or USB connection during playback.