For the 10th anniversary of the Imagine RIT festival at Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT Theme Park Enthusiasts wanted to commemorate this in a special way. The decision was made to use our "Big Wheel" (project post coming soon) and a drop tower attraction to make a giant "10" right at the front of our exhibit, one that could be seen from across the stadium-sized room

We chose to refurbish the old drop tower by adding an automated controlled drop system using a CIM motor, Victor 884 speed controller, IR sensors, and an MSP432 microcontroller. The ride would automatically raise the gondola to the top of the tower, and then drop it using a controlled sequence.

The tower was lit with Neopixels and an Arduino Pro Mini at the base. All of this was powered by a repurposed computer power supply in a laser cut case, with the rest of the electronics and start button in another case (with a NASA sticker for good measure)