ATLAS as CAMERAMAN
My channel ALPHATESTER is NOT a classic NEWS channel.
I like to test AI stuff and everything with a plug. But every now and then things cross my path where I think, this is so crazy, I simply have to share it with you!
Like the CORLEO from Kawasaki – you can check it out here.
A modern means of transport, the combination of horse and motorcycle – fully electric.
Today, though, it’s about this find from Boston Dynamics:
They simply put a camera in their new ATLAS robot’s hand and said: “go on, shoot!” How that worked and what I, as a professional camera operator, think of it – that’s what we’ll look at today.
WPP started this project in cooperation with Boston Dynamics and Canon.
I’ll link the mini documentary about it in the comments. They talk about finally being able to send robots to unsafe places. To film a volcano crater, for example. Sure. And no – the common use will certainly not be the volcano crater, but the “perfectly ordinary TV camera operator”. And the “perfectly ordinary event camera operator”.
The truck opens up and 5 robot camera operators jump out and take their positions in the event hall. Camera already in hand. And they just stay at their positions. All day. No smoking break, no bathroom break, no catering, never distracted by phones or hostesses. A camera operator without equipment gets maybe €500 per day of work. The robot costs a one-off €10,000. That’s only 20 working days and the new “equipment” has paid for itself. From day 21 my new colleague earns €500 a day.
The robo-cameraman is said to carry up to 20 kg. I had Perplexity make me a list. EXCEPT for an IMAX camera, whose lens alone weighs 10 kg, and some 3D rigs and underwater cameras, the new colleague can work with all common cameras. Volcano my ass!
And still I’d love to have a colleague like that! As a 2nd camera operator, for example. You could send it off to shoot B-roll or just for a second perspective.
Best with built-in rotors right away, to also get aerial shots. How quickly will camera operators become unemployed? Hollywood is already crying all the time that the studios stay empty. Let’s enjoy it as long as we still can! Especially at events. Even if the days are long. The waiting times sometimes never end. Announced rehearsals that then don’t happen after all.
Stuff yourselves at the buffet – who knows how long the table will still be set for us.
ALPHATESTER crew T-shirt
A row of identical robots sits in a space cabin, all with cameras at the ready, all turned in the same direction.