ZDF trusted Robycam for aerial shots of the international soccer match between Germany and Brazil

Robycam is a cable-suspended camera system that enables 3D camera movements with gyro-stabilization. Along with a powerful controller, the system allows movements in all three axes: Pan, Tilt and Roll.

To produce the international soccer match between Germany and Brazil, the German public broadcaster ZDF used the new possibilities offered by aerial image capture using the camera-over-cable system. Robycam and elements of augmented reality.

During the friendly, which took place on March 27 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, ZDF used the Robycam system operated by the production team of Broadcast Solutions. Together with augmented reality elements, implemented by the graphics service provider Netventure Production, the broadcaster included new graphic elements combined with aerial shots from the Robycam. Their signal along with actual location data in the stadium, and Netventure virtual graphics were mapped and sent directly to production. With these innovative new tools, ZDF was able to offer its viewers additional content and information.

The football match was not the first use of Robycam for ZDF as it also used this system during the production of Mainz celebrates on the occasion of German Unity Day 2017 and early 2018 during the Biathlon World Cup in Ruhpolding.

Robycam is a cable suspended camera system which allows 3D camera movements with gyrostabilization. Along with a powerful controller, the system allows movements in the three axes: Pan, Tilt y Roll, all of them with stabilized movements. It also has an auto horizon function that makes the image absolutely stable in gusty wind conditions. Unlike other systems on the market, Robycam has a fifth winch that carries the cable optical fiber in master-slave mode. As a result, using Polyspast mode, the system is more variable in height.

The Robycam system uses four automatic winches, controlled in real time, and a sophisticated motion control system that allows taking images with millimeter precision and fast up to 8 meters in all axes. The largest system has an operating range of up to 250x 250 meters.

Robycam is completely redundant (UPS units in each computer) and, of course, has all the necessary DGUV17/18 (formerly BGV-C1) certifications to be used on the public.

The next use of the system is planned for the SportsInnovation 2018 event (May 8-9) in Düsseldorf. During the event and in front of numerous media and club representatives, the Robycam system will perform the camera flights of the test matches at the Düsseldorf ESPRIT Arena. Two days before (May 6) and in the same stadium, Robycam will produce images during the German second division football match between Fortuna Dusseldorf and Holstein Kiel.