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Moving along a blue ray similar to the one moving the elevators linking the Test Chambers, this moving platform is often used to go across toxic waste located below.
Before the device starts itself, a mechanism lowers the platform towards the blue beam.
Although the light beams will not harm Chell, standing on a light beam generator while the scaffold is moving towards her will kill her instead of pushing her away.
Unstationary Scaffolds can also travel downwards, as seen in Test Chamber 19, where it goes downwards at an angle into the incinerator.
Behind the scenes[]
In the commentary for Portal, a developer says that originally the scaffolds ran on solid tracks, but they changed it because players would run on the scaffold. The new version, which used electricity of some sort, would have killed Chell if she touched it, but playtesters found that solution frustrating. The developers changed it to run on "Immaterial beams of light".