The Cinegear Expo stepped out from NAB’s shadow this year with an amazing display of developing and evolving production tech. Again, Team Cobalt was close by and thought to drop in, and again, we were just blown away by it all! So much is happening and all at once. Where to start?

There seemed to be as many robots at the expo as there were people. All of the robo-tech companies had amazing new interfaces to the point where the overarching design concept seemed to be the ability to put the controls into the hands of the completely uninitiated AND to have it work fluidly. Yes, there are always trade-offs, but motion control has been hamstrung with the complexity of the interfaces and a multitude of complex function for some time now… The best operating systems were always about increasing functionality and adding advanced features. Today, the calling card is SIMPLICITY – using AR and AI to aid in writing the moves.

All of the interfaces were new custom apps. Some featured a ‘mimic’ mode where the camera op could use their iPhone, or articulate a pendant to create the move gesture, and the robot would glide over to the start position, figure out where the robot base would need to be, and run the move.

We also stopped by to visit our friend Joe Lewis at General Lift who showed us some of his latest motion control developments, including an articulating chair to critically (and quickly) position subjects for scanning. Joe also showed us his personally-designed, beautiful sub-miniature 3 axis head which he wryly calls the ‘Knucklehead’. Quintessential Joe…! ?Alex says, “Think DykstraFlex addressing the modern camera ‘form factor’ of this digital century.”

Then, we were off to see our friends at Mo-Sys to get a deep dive hands-on experience of their fully integrated Virtual Production solution. It’s arguably the best tracker around that’s integrated to be a complete production solution suitable for shooting either on traditional green screen or in an LED volume.

Also, our friends at Rocket Lab not only had an amazing Staubli based robot, but also breakthrough software AND a cable cam system that can span up to 3 football fields.

For Team Cobalt, it’s been an eye-opening year. Our Airstream tour has taken us from Coast to Coast, from Expo to Expo, and we couldn’t be more thrilled by it all. We love what we have been doing for almost 30 years, what we are doing now, and what we will achieve for our clients in the years ahead. It’s such a remarkable time to be riding the wave.

Stay tuned. More waves to ride! (cue the Beach Boys) ?