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it’s simply no longer enough. You really need to offer more.
And that’s only possible by making extensive use of technology.
Strictly speaking, what we do is highly specialised machine
building. One of our latest illusions, teleportation, is a perfect
example of this. When we were developing this illusion, we
couldn’t just walk into an engineering firm and say that we
needed a teleporter. This is a highly specialised, individual
solution that had to be developed from scratch.
Where do you use automation and how do you benefit from
the high level of technical back-up?
Chris Ehrlich:
Obviously we can’t give away the secrets behind
our illusions. However, one technical innovation we can tell you
about is the central roll-up projection screen that we have over the
stage, which is driven using a Festo servo motor. The advantage of
this is that it can be moved to any position. This means that we
have maximum flexibility despite the infrastructure that changes
from venue to venue. The roll-up projection screen is controlled
by our own PLC structure, which operates the Festo controller.
Andreas Ehrlich:
We used to use a turnkey standard solution,
but it wasn’t reliable enough for our requirements. The screen
didn’t move precisely enough to the required position and the
projected image therefore didn’t always fit on the screen. With the
new solution we no longer have this problem. It is taught before
every show and once that’s done we can be sure that it will
operate with one hundred per cent reliability. Automation gives
us security, it relieves the pressure on us and gives us the
freedom to focus on our performance on the stage.
“Automation gives us security,
it relieves the pressure on us and
gives us the freedom to focus on
our performance on the stage.”
Andreas Ehrlich
The interview
with Andreas and Chris Ehrlich
took place on 29 January 2015 at the Porsche
Arena in Stuttgart, Germany.
Issue 28
trends in automation
Inspiration
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