This article was taken from the June issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content bysubscribing online
It’s great to see a start-up hiring laid-off workers -- even if they’re not human. Jeff Linnell (centre) recently picked up three Fanuc s430iL industrial robots at bargain-basement prices and reprogrammed them for jobs in TV advertising -- luckily, the autobots (nicknamed Puck, Gilda and Rosie) had transferable skills.
Linnell’s production company, Autofuss, makes commercials that call for a lot of crane and dolly shots. With limber, six-axis arms and an ability to move at whiplash speeds while maintaining pinpoint precision, the bots are a natural for fancy camerawork. Getting them up and running wasn’t easy -- the machines didn’t come with instruction manuals.
Once Linnell’s team figured out how to operate them, they were able to create complex motion shots that never drop focus.
The bots’ first gig was a Louis Vuitton ad featuring Buzz Aldrin. Since then they’ve filmed ads for Apple and Nike. The best part: they never say, “What I really want to do is direct.”
Vital StatsHeight: 2.2 metres Weight: 1.3 tonnes Payload capacity :125kg Arm reach: 3 metres Max horizontal range of motion: 6 metres Max speed: 2 metres/second Accuracy: ±0.3 millimetres
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
