MRMC powers up new Cinebot Mini

Mark Roberts Motion Control’s latest offers user-friendly and flexible features to record and replicate manual movements made on set.

The Nikon-owned Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has launched its latest motion control arm, the Cinebot Mini. Debuting at IBC2023, the unit features a range of user-friendly, simple and portable features ideal for studio owners, content creators, grips, cinematographers, and camera operators.

It’s built to be highly portable and designed for convenient transportation, setup and location work. It can also usefully run up to eight hours on battery power and allows users to control the robot by hand, directly from a mobile device or via MRMC’s Flair Software.

The idea is that this user-friendly control allows the Cinebot Mini to simplify on-set operation for grips and DoPs. What is very cool is that motion control is becoming easier to use than ever, approaching the ease of use of regular grip equipment. Cinematographers can hand-hold the camera in various positions, and the robotic arm will record them. They can also push the track like a standard dolly, and this movement too can be recorded and played back. 

The unit can handle a camera payload of up to 10kg (the unit weighs 33.5kg) and offers a 1.3m arm reach. It also comes with a track and pedestal option, allowing the robot to be used on an adjustable pedestal for height variation or equipped with a track for an additional axis of movement.

“The idea behind the Cinebot Mini is to make motion control available to any set with simpler, familiar control, a smaller footprint, and a price that makes it accessible to everyone, not just for bigger productions,” says MRMC. It doesn’t go so far as to mention what that price may be, but motion control is normally a rental proposition for most productions so don’t expect cheap even at this comparatively entry level.