40LEDs
A halo, not a status dot
24 WS2812B LEDs outside and 16 inside wrap the cone. Attract loops pull people in from across the room, and every read gets an answer they can see from a metre away.
BoraBora Lab · Hardware · 2026
Tap in.
Tap in.
Light up.
RFID Universal is the reader we build into every playable space: a 109 mm faceplate, a machined cone that shows guests where to tap, and a 40-LED halo that answers before they lift their hand.
Exploded view
Four parts. One gesture.
No cables to route through the front, nothing to glue. The stack is a cone, a halo board, a faceplate and a snap frame, and it closes up in under a minute.
4Parts
24.8mm deep
0Visible screws
01 · Cone target
The shape is the sign.
A turned aluminium cone, 64.4 mm across, standing 14 mm proud of the plate. Hands find it without a sticker, an arrow or a staff member pointing. The card lands dead centre on the antenna every time.
02 · Luminary board
Light that talks back.
One Ø100 mm board does everything. 40 WS2812B LEDs in two rings, an RC522 reader tucked under the cone, an ESP32-S3 for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and a W5500 for wired Ethernet. Every state gets its own light, so guests never have to wonder.
40LEDs
13.56MHz
3Ways to connect
03 + 04 · Faceplate & snap frame
Fits the panel you already have.
The 109 × 109 mm faceplate carries a 7 mm ring wall that drops into a round cutout. Behind the panel, the snap frame clips on and pulls everything tight. Four corner holes cover the builds where clips won't do.
Assembled
Click. Done.
One part number for kiosks, arcade cabinets, museum walls and pop-up activations. Same look across every station, the same wiring behind every one.
Scroll to explode
Why it's cool
A reader guests want to touch.
Most RFID readers are grey boxes with a sticker that says "tap here". We kept building installations around that problem, so we designed it out.
64.4mm
A target you can feel
The RC522 reader sits right under the cone, so its shape guides the card onto the antenna. Kids, first-timers and people in a hurry all land the tap first time, without signage.
109mm
One cutout, every build
A square faceplate and a round ring wall. Cut one hole in MDF, acrylic, steel or a cabinet door and the reader drops in. The snap frame does the rest.
24.8mm
Thin enough for anything
Less than 25 mm from cone tip to the back of the ring wall. It fits inside thin wall panels, plinths and props where a boxed reader never would.
4parts
Serviceable on the floor
Cone, halo board, faceplate, snap frame. A technician can swap the board mid-event without taking the wall apart or reaching for a soldering iron.
3links
Wi-Fi, Ethernet or USB-C
An ESP32-S3 handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, a W5500 adds wired Ethernet for venues that don't trust the air, and USB-C covers setup and firmware updates.
Halo simulator · 24 + 16 LEDs
Attract
Try a tap
Every state has a light.
These are the halo patterns the board ships with. Click a card below or on the ring itself and watch how the reader answers.
Reader ready · waiting for a card
Tap with anything
PVC, wood, fabric, silicone.
The reader works with any ISO 14443 A tag, so guests tap with whatever suits the venue. We supply all four, printed or engraved with your artwork and encoded before they ship.
RFID cards
Credit-card size PVC, full-colour print on both sides. Good for tickets, season passes, staff access and collectible cards.
- Size
- CR80 · 85.6 × 54 mm
- Chip
- MIFARE Classic · NTAG
- Both sides, full colour
Sustainable
Wooden RFID cards
Real wood with the chip sealed inside, laser engraved with your logo. They look and feel premium, and guests keep them as a souvenir.
- Size
- CR80 · 85.6 × 54 mm
- Finish
- Laser engraved
- Chip
- MIFARE Classic · NTAG
RFID lanyards
A printed strap with an RFID badge in a clear holder. Crew, press and VIP guests keep their pass visible and their hands free.
- Strap
- 20 mm, printed
- Badge
- Card or tag in holder
- Clip
- Safety breakaway
RFID wristbands
Silicone or woven fabric with the chip sealed inside. Waterproof, hard to lose and made for all-day play and multi-day events.
- Band
- Silicone or woven fabric
- Chip
- Sealed, ISO 14443 A
- Fit
- Kids to adults
Mix them in one venue. Every tag is linked to a guest profile, so a card at the entrance and a wristband in the arcade can belong to the same visit.
Platform · realtime over MQTT
Every reader, live.
Each station talks to our MQTT server in real time. Taps, state and health stream to your show control, dashboards and CRM as they happen. Configuration, deployment and firmware updates all run remotely, so nobody has to open a wall.
Realtime
MQTT from tap to show
Every read is published the moment it happens. Lights, sound and screens react while the guest's hand is still on the cone.
Configurable
Change it from anywhere
Brightness, colours, attract patterns and allow lists live in config pushed over MQTT. No reflashing, no ladder.
Deployable
Provision a whole venue
New readers join the network, register themselves and pull their station config on first boot. Wi-Fi or Ethernet, your choice.
Updatable
Over-the-air firmware
Roll out new firmware to one station or the whole fleet, watch progress live, and roll back if a show needs it.
The feed, fleet and config shown here are a simulation. Taps from the halo demo above publish into this feed.
In the field
Tapped at real shows.
RFID Universal isn't a lab prototype. It has run guest journeys for global brands on tour and on the show floor.
Illustration · the Odometer
Škoda · Let's Explore Roadshow
View the full case study
Make every km count.
A touring exhibition built around one personal visitor journey. Guests tapped their RFID badge to start a station, play and explore, and collected kilometres along the way. At the check-out terminal, every tap added up to a personalised journey to take home.
Live km data fed the Odometer, an 8 × 3 m back-projected tunnel that turned the total into an audiovisual particle experience. Players logged into the four-player "Škoda island" game with the same badge.
- Short- and long-range RFID
- Touch & token tables
- Multiplayer games
- Check-out terminal
8 × 3 mOdometer tunnel
4Players per game
1Badge per guest
Cisco · Brand shows
One tap to check in, every station knows you.
Readers handled guest check-in and tap-to-activate stations across the show space. Each tap went out over MQTT, so content and follow-ups were tied to the right visitor as they moved around.
- Guest check-in
- Tap-to-activate stations
- Realtime MQTT
Capital One · Brand shows
Tap, unlock, collect.
Guests tapped in to unlock experiences and collect content along the way. The halo gave every tap an instant answer, and the fleet was configured and updated remotely between show days.
- Unlockable experiences
- Halo feedback
- Remote config & OTA
Škoda · Cisco · Capital Oneand our own permanent installations
Anatomy · front to back
Four parts, stacked.
Listed in assembly order, from what the guest touches to what the installer clips on behind the panel. Housing dimensions are measured straight from the production CAD.
Cone target
Turned aluminium funnel that centres the card over the antenna and hides the board's inner edge.
- Diameter
- 64.4 mm
- Height
- 14.0 mm
- Finish
- Brushed Al
Luminary board
Ø100 mm board that sits inside the ring wall: LEDs on the guest side, the RC522 under the cone, ESP32-S3 and W5500 on board.
- LEDs
- 24 + 16 WS2812B
- Reader
- RC522
- MCU
- ESP32-S3
Faceplate
Square front plate with a 7 mm ring wall on the back that locates the reader in a round panel cutout.
- Plate
- 109 × 109 × 3 mm
- Ring wall
- Ø108 / Ø102
- Holes
- 4 × corner
Snap frame
Rear frame with sprung clips. It pushes over the ring wall from behind the panel and clamps the whole stack in place.
- Plate
- 109 × 109 mm
- Fixing
- Snap-fit clips
- Tools
- None
Specifications
The numbers.
Every figure here comes from the production CAD: the housing model and the Luminary board export.
Housing
| Faceplate | 109 × 109 mm |
| Plate thickness | 3.0 mm |
| Ring wall | Ø108 OD · Ø102 ID mm |
| Ring wall depth | 7.0 mm |
| Cone target | Ø64.4 × 14.0 mm |
| Overall depth | 24.8 mm |
| Fixing | Snap frame or 4 corner holes |
| Material | Aluminium |
Electronics
| LEDs | 40 × WS2812B 5050 RGB 24 + 16 |
| RFID reader | RC522 · 13.56 MHz |
| Tags | ISO 14443 A · MIFARE |
| Controller | ESP32-S3-WROOM-1 |
| Network | Wi-Fi · Bluetooth LE · Ethernet W5500 |
| Ports | USB-C · 6-pin UART JST PH |
| Buttons | Boot · Reset · Play |
| Board | Ø100 mm |
| Messaging | MQTT, realtime |
| Management | Remote config · OTA firmware |
Where it goes
Wherever a guest checks in.
We designed it for our own exhibitions first. It now goes into every build where a wristband, card or token starts the experience.
Exhibition stations
Collect a stamp, unlock a scene, save progress to a wristband as guests move from room to room.
Arcade cabinets
Replace coin slots with card credits. The halo shows balance, play and game-over states.
Brand activations
Pop-ups and launches where every tap is a lead, a reward or a photo trigger, and setup time is short.
Queues & check-in
Timed entry, locker access and staff points that need a clear yes or no at a glance.
Made under one roof
Designed, coded and built in-house.
RFID Universal came out of the same three teams that deliver our installations. That is why it fits them so well.
Studios
Interaction
The halo states, attract loops and the idea that a reader should invite a tap instead of waiting for one.
Lab
Electronics
The halo board, antenna layout and firmware, prototyped and tested against real crowds.
Fabrica
Housing
Faceplate, cone and snap frame, produced in our 1,000 m² workshop and fitted into our own builds.
Stop watching. Start doing.
Put a halo in your next build.
Tell us about your space, your guests and how many stations you need. We'll send drawings, a sample and a plan for integration.
info@studioborabora.com · Cologne · Hamburg · Barcelona