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20 YEARS OF TAIT NAVIGATOR Sam Woodward reflects on two decades of TAIT Navigator conducting the orchestra of show-control and automation in multiple sectors.
Words: Sam Woodward Photos: TAIT Navigator, TAIT’s platform for machinery automation and show-control, passed its 20th birthday milestone this year. At PLASA Show 2022, Jim Love, VP at TAIT, presented a seminar entitled: A collage of case-studies from two decades of spectaculars’ showcontrol and automation, delving into some of the shows and live experiences made possible by the platform. The past two decades have seen multiple revolutions in entertainment technology. There have been visible changes: increasing cue counts; heavier scenic pieces set in motion; a widespread adoption of performer flying and the associated necessary increase in safety regulations. Less visible, but no less radical, has been the transition of control protocols from simple serial digital communications to ethernet-based industrial real-time protocols. We have witnessed the rise of the show network, and the need for tight synchronisation between audio, lighting, video and scenic elements, all of which now frequently move together in three dimensions. Scene changes that were once in blackout now form part of a show’s intricate mechanised choreography. Audiences demand new experiences, and designers have risen to the challenge with fresh ideas and innovative concepts to push the boundaries of physical possibility in pursuit of new moments that move people. TAIT Navigator has been at the centre of entertainment innovation for live events facilitating a paradigm-shift in operating methods for all kinds of shows – those that tour, those in fixed locations such as purpose-built venues and theme-parks; it has been used for controlling live and filmed 3D performer flying stunts, including those with flying cameras, and it has enabled the integration of devices that are not traditionally associated with staged entertainment into shows, such as pumps, robots, and building management systems integration. Navigator hosts the vital safety functions for moving machines and provides a paradigm shift in show control from sequencing to feedback-based dynamic timelines, making
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