Protec Dubai invests in Robe posted: 19/08/2019
Protec's Aaron Russ with Elie Battah from Robe Middle East
The Protec Group's Dubai branch, the largest and most prolific full production company in the Middle East and one of the largest globally ... has started investing in Robe moving lights in the last two years, a move that's seen a range of fixtures - including BMFLs, Pointes, MegaPointes, Spikies and RoboSpot systems - delivered and deployed on various projects.
This has been spearheaded by Protec's head of lighting Aaron Russ, recent winner of the 2019 TPMEA Award for Lighting Designer of the Year. As that implies, Aaron is also an accomplished production lighting designer and takes on this role - often collaborating with a team of designers - to creatively light up event spaces varying from intimate shows to stadium spectaculars.
The company, founded in 1999 by Steve Lakin, delivers innovative and imaginative full technical production solutions across entertainment, leisure and commercial sectors - from corporate presentations to music festivals - throughout the UAE, Middle East and UK / Europe. With fully operational branches in KSA, UAE and the UK, Protec is delivering world-class events across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa & Asia.
Aaron explained that it was a case of the right product at the right time with Robe. Obviously, they had other moving lights in stock up until this point, but the first batch of 96 x Pointes were sourced to replace a competitor beam light product, together with 48 x Spikies on the same order.
Then in 2018, for the ground-breaking Opening Ceremony of the Qiddiya Theme Park in Riyadh, KSA with a design by US-based LD John Featherstone of Lightswitch, they needed a powerful wash light ... and purchased 24 x BMFL XF Washes with the barn door module. Every design we receive from John specifies a lot of Robe, commented Aaron, and he has been a big champion of the brand in the US across his portfolio of work.
Also delivered by Robe Middle East with this second batch of luminaires were another 24 x Pointes and 12 x MegaPointes.
The next purchase was two RoboSpot base stations with two BMFL Blades luminaires and separate motions cameras specifically to be used as remote-controlled follow spots on which he comments: I love them, they work really well, especially outdoors in adverse weather conditions - in fact, I've never had to send a Robe fixture back to be repaired - they are really tough, and believe me, we've beaten them up enough times in terms of harsh operating environments!
He thinks the products are generally well designed and have been engineered to make life as easy as possible for those using them. The crews greatly appreciate the fact that they are not needy lights.
From the design perspective, Aaron says the optics are impressive and he likes flat beam field, the gobo selection and the fact that they make good workhorse lights for both theatre and rock n' roll.
He cites the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Presidents Cup Football in the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain as a good example, where he positioned 24 x BMFLs on one of the balcony handrails at the top of the seating bleachers shooting a long way down to the field-of-play. They were completely still - rock solid - which was noticeable compared to some of the other lights on the job! he confirmed.
In addition to these creative advantages of using these Robe units, he appreciates the great service and support from Robe Middle East which is headed by Elie Battah.
Robe has come a long way, especially in the last five years, he observes.
When he arrived at Protec seven years ago, they were heavily invested in alternative moving light brands and - coming from New Zealand - he'd not heard so much about Robe, and the company was still a young pretender in the global moving light stakes. It was the launch of the BMFL five years ago that really alerted me to how much Robe had advanced in that short time.
Robe is now regularly on his event and show designs. This includes the Opening Ceremony of the Nas Sports Challenge at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex in Dubai, a high-pressure, high-profile gig that Protec approached with its characteristic enthusiasm, zest and vision.
Robe wise he utilised Pointes, MegaPointes and RoboSpots amongst other fixtures, and the RoboSpots turned out to be the stars of the show! The event was staged in a room with no follow spot rigging facilities other than flying a special truss, and the 6 to 8 hours show standby times meant that having operators up there for that long was totally impractical.
A young football star needed highlighting as he showed off some of his playing skills and when his performance position was changed right at the last moment ... Aaron was still able to get two of the RoboSpots to point almost vertically down to cover his new area, a feat that would have been impossible using conventional spots.
They are fantastic ace to have up your sleeve, he concludes.
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
Protec Dubai invests in Robe posted: 19/08/2019 
