Once again the Robe team pulled out all the stops and rolled out the red carpet for visitors to the show. In the gigantic stand, twice as large as that of previous years shared with its other brands, Avolites, Artistic License, Anolis recently joined by LSC, Robe offered itself a special place to highlight the new products presented and celebrate, as it should be, its thirtieth birthday.
On a stand the size of a concert hall, Robe is celebrating its 30th anniversary. ©Marko-Polase
Every hour, a presentation of new products in a live “Power of Imagination” show mixing music and performers captivated the audience who gathered en masse under the pavilion. As for the climax, it was achieved during the very beautiful Rock’n’Robe evening specially organized for the occasion.
Queenie, the Czech Queen cover band that plays loud and clear. Awesome! 575 Robe fixtures with all the new products are involved in the show, including the new iBolt and iForte LTX controlled by an Avolites D9 215
Josef Valchar, Co-founder and CEO of Robe, visibly happy at the end of the concert!
To ignite the atmosphere, “Queenie” an excellent Queen cover band, lit by the company’s latest spotlights, and with delicious petits fours and local dishes, everybody was rocking!
But let’s come to our senses and not lose sight of the objective of this article to present to you the fixtures newly added to the catalog.
We move away from the bustling crowd to isolate ourselves in one of the spaces provided for this purpose and thus be able to get closer to the fixtures.
We meet Vincent Bouquet, technical director of Robe France, to review the new arrivals.
iBolt, the SLU innovation prize
We begin this report, after months of teasing, with the official release of the iBolt, an XL format moving head with a laser-boosted “cannonball” beam. It can also be compared to a skytracer, this fixture with extraordinary dimensions (its output lens measures 30 cm in diameter) for a total weight of 54 kg, is equipped with a 500 W phosphor laser source.
The iBolt, Robe’s new long-range laser beam/sky tracker.
It integrates almost all of the functionalities of the no less famous MegaPointe. The differences are in the graphics of the gobos (specially designed for the iBolt), the zoom range, and the prisms.
The iBolt is equipped with new prism systems, MLP (for Multi Level Prisms), and SpektraBeam which also adds color. You will also notice that the Pan has continuous rotation.
Given for 120,000 Lux at 100 meters (currently estimated at 20,000,000 Lux at 5m, no less!), Robe engineers have developed a specific security system, a laser rangefinder integrated into the head of the fixture arranged around the lens, an innovation in this sector. It can detect a presence up to 100 meters and interact with the source management software at a rate of 10 detections per second.
iBolt: 20 million lux at 5 m…
Still in the final phase of development, it will cut off the light emission if an obstacle is detected less than 5 meters from the fixture and validate or not the “sky-mode” to use the laser source at full power in Beam mode, like a skytacer.
…and still 120,000 lux at 100 m.
Security was one of the key elements for Robe in the product development phase, announcing that a version dedicated to the American market (ibolt 2) is being developed.
PC/Fresnel T15
Next comes the T15, from the Theater range, available as a PC/Fresnel type fixture with the same aspect as the T11 Profile, with which it also shares the same light source (a 350 W RGBAL LED engine).
The new Fresnel and PC of the T15 series. On their left side, we can see the faders intended for manual control. In addition to the quickly interchangeable lens via 4 ¼ turn screws, the fixtures are strictly identical.
Here, the primary objective is to have light flow. The optical system has therefore been simplified to improve light power (almost 12,000 lumens).
No integrated blade/shutter module but a motorized zoom system with increased specifications compared to the T11 (here 10/72°). Like the dimmer, this parameter is, in manual mode, accessible via two side faders also motorized.
The product is intended to be versatile; you can therefore easily change the lens as you wish and go from a plano-convex to a Fresnel. It integrates an RGB trichrome configurable in CMY and a CTC variable between 2700 and 8000 Kelvins.
The CRI is also adjustable, between 80 and 95 (TLCI 91). The T15 is more compact than the T11, just under 50 cm in length. For control, the user has a wide choice: 6 modes (from 1 to 24 channels) accessible in DMX/RDM but also in Art-Net, sACN, MA Net/Ma Net 2, or in CRMX (wireless) optional.
The new iSpiiderX, still IP65 is intended to be an almost identical copy of the original Spiider.
iSpiiderX
Also in the new section, several product developments are appearing. We start with the iSpiiderX, which could be compared to the evolution of the evolution (Spiider, iSpiider then iSpiiderX, are you following me?).
Here, the goal was to take advantage of technological progress and user feedback to offer a product that is still IP65, close to the original Spiider in terms of dimensions and operation to combine the two in the same lighting kit without seeing any differences.
The T32 Cyc bars in their Slim version, have less depth, and space-saving but a “fixed”(stationary) hot spot.
T32Cyc Slim
The T32Cyc Slim is a compact version of the T32Cyc cyclorama bar presented recently. In this case, the main objective is to offer a product sharing the same DNA in a thinner case (therefore less bulky and lighter). The concession for this product was to do without the innovative LED motorization system which made it possible to move the hot spot.
iProMotion
The ProMotion, a controlled moving head equipped with a LED video projection module, welcomes alongside it the iProMotion, its IP65 version. It is developed in two versions, the choice of which must be made when ordering in order to start with a Portrait or Landscape type projection. The absence of an image rotation system is the desire to offer a compact product of the same format as other already existing moving heads.
The iEsprite Fresnel is the new soft-beam wash-type version of the famous Esprite (waterproof version).
iT12 Fresnel and iEsprite Fresnel
Two IP65 Fresnel versions are also available in the catalog, with the iT12 Fresnel, 100% motorized framing shutters (which can almost be described as a moving head without pan/tilt) as well as the iEsprite Fresnel controlled moving head.
To simplify maintenance for the user, a new Fresnel lens has been developed, it is lined with a smooth protection on the exterior side making cleaning easier.
The “LightMaster” handle/control console assembly is now available for the iForte LTX.
LightMaster
As for accessories, the LightMaster handle allowing manual use of a moving head to transform it into a FollowSpot now fits the iForte LTX.
For more information take a look at the Robe Lighting website
To conclude, the Robe show at PL+S 2024
