The Rise of Load Monitoring
The live event production industry is seeing an increasing emphasis on the use of load cell systems to accurately measure, and monitor, the weight of rigs and the effects of dynamic changes on weight loading. Riggers Dave Jolly and Yose Lawson from Rigorous Technology became aware of a gap in the entertainment market and by investing in Kinesys’ Libra load monitoring systems have paved the way to a successful business.
Jolly and Lawson started Rigorous Technology in June 2011 when they discovered there was a need for modern, digital load cell systems in the market. They were surprised to see no one offering LibraCELL systems for hire.
Jolly explains “Kinesys are unique in their approach to Motion Control Rigging. No other company that I am aware of has looked at the commonly undertaken tasks and designed a range of equipment that can be integrated together in so many different ways. This flexibility allows me to take off the shelf products and combine them to make bespoke solutions.”
Rigorous employs the Kinesys LibraCELL for its hire stock for various reasons, according to Jolly.
“It has the advantage of being the size of a standard shackle with an on-board display allowing the load to be read at the point of attachment (it can also be viewed on the power supply unit, which can be located at your hoist controller). The load cells can be daisy-chained, with up to 25 powered from a single 4-pin XLR cable, making cabling the system quick and tidy.
Visual beacons can be set up to alert crew to overload and underload situations the moment that they occur. A laptop running Kinesys LibraVIEW or LibraWATCH software can be connected to the power supply by USB or Ethernet cable and used to monitor loads on all points simultaneously, or in pre-defined groups.
LibraWATCH has added a lot of capabilities to the Libra range, especially when used with LibraWIFI to communicate load data wirelessly on the go via Ethernet. “The multiple viewing option, maximum and minimum load capture, and ability to have several LibraWATCH platforms all viewing one rig simultaneously are all great features. It’s very intuitive… It’s great to see Kinesys responding and giving the industry what it wants!”
Rigorous Technology provides the full Libra range, including LibraWATCH, LibraWIFI, LibraPRO and LibraCELL, to its clients as two distinct options. They will supply equipment and riggers as a package to weigh your production at any location, or they can dry hire the equipment for your riggers to use. The system can be made to ‘plug and play’ ensuring a completely compatible and user-friendly system that is very simple to use.
Jolly says “To my mind the industry has always needed systems such as LibraCELL… Now that we can supply highly capable systems, that are very reasonably priced, I believe we will see more people making use of load cell systems.”
In the past 12 months Rigorous have supplied load cells for use on various installations and major tours such as the Muse World Tour and Robbie Williams live at the O2 Arena London. The demand for load monitoring systems has been rising in the entertainment market and proves to be critical for the safety of any rigging installation.
