Movicom's Robycam Aerial Cable System Deployed at World Nomad Games

The sixth edition of the World Nomad Games combined traditional sports, large-scale cultural performances, and some decidedly modern broadcast technology. Held across multiple venues in Kyrgyzstan, the 2026 Games brought together 3,000 athletes from 104 countries-and delivered a production that made extensive use of aerial camera systems, immersive LED displays, and drone technology.

The Games opened at the newly constructed Bishkek Arena in the Kyrgyz capital. With seating for 51,000, the venue is the largest stadium in Central Asia and was officially inaugurated as part of a nearly four-hour opening ceremony featuring music, dance, cultural performances, speeches, and the parade of athletes.

Designed in the form of a traditional Kyrgyz yurt, the stadium provided a particularly distinctive canvas for the production. Its dome incorporates a large LED video-mapping system, allowing the entire ceiling to become part of the visual design during the ceremony. The exterior metal lattice is similarly integrated with architectural LED networks, enabling the stadium fa ade to display changing colors, patterns, and lighting effects.

The venue was designed to meet top-tier FIFA and AFC requirements for major international football and cultural events. High-refresh-rate outdoor LED scoreboards provided the primary in-venue display capability, with the system designed to maintain image clarity from throughout the 51,000-seat arena.

For the broadcast, one of the most significant production additions was the first use of Movicom's Robycam aerial cable system inside the new stadium.

The four-point system was rigged within the eight-story structure, giving the production team a large three-dimensional shooting space above the arena. The system was used extensively during the musical performances and athlete parade, providing shots that ranged from sweeping views of the entire stadium to close-ups of individual performers.

The camera package was equally notable. The Robycam carried Sony's Burano, the latest addition to Sony's CineAlta camera lineup, paired with a Canon CN-E 15-120mm lens. A rare example for the use of this camera-and-lens combination to be flown on a cable camera.

The combination gave the aerial system unusual flexibility. The 15-120mm zoom provided both the wide field of view required for the scale of the venue and the reach necessary for tight shots from above. That allowed operators to move from a stadium-wide establishing shot into a close-up of a performer without sacrificing the distinctive perspective of the cable system.

That flexibility became one of the system's biggest advantages for the live production. Rather than functioning simply as a specialty camera for wide shots, the Robycam could become an active part of the storytelling.

The system covered an arena measuring approximately 920 by 230 feet (280 by 70 meters) and sometimes moved as fast as 27 feet per second. With that speed and position, it could capture virtually every part of the ceremony, including speeches, musical performances, athlete entrances, and audience reactions.

For a production built around scale and spectacle, the ability to move quickly through that space while maintaining a cinematic perspective gave the director another tool for connecting the individual performances to the size of the event.

The opening ceremony was broadcast live internationally and was also made available on YouTube. With the program distributed across multiple platforms, determining an exact global audience is difficult. Organizers nevertheless described the 2026 Games as the most-watched edition to date and claimed it was the biggest broadcast in Central Asia of the year.

The broadcast challenge extended well beyond the opening and closing ceremonies. Competition took place at multiple venues, including the Hippodrome and Sports Center in Cholpon-Ata and the open valleys around Kyrchyn Village, approximately 45 miles away.

One of the biggest draws was Kok-Boru, the traditional Central Asian horseback sport sometimes described as headless goat polo. Thousands of spectators traveled to the remote competition sites, where the production incorporated unconventional camera positions, including cameras mounted on players and, in some instances, on horses.

Team USA, composed largely of athletes from Utah, competed in the Kok-Boru competition but did not medal.

The Robycam returned for the closing ceremony, but under very different conditions.

Held a week after the opening ceremony on the highlands of Cholpon-Ata overlooking Lake Issyk-Kul, the closing event was staged in an open-air environment rather than inside a stadium. The four-point Robycam system was therefore reconfigured and suspended between four 165-foot (50-meter) cranes positioned across an open field.

The two-and-a-half-hour ceremony featured traditional performances from many of the participating nations and culminated in a large-scale aerial drone display involving 1,500 drones.

The production also used CuePilot to assist with camera planning and live switching. Camera movements and transitions could be pre-programmed, giving the director a repeatable framework for executing complex sequences during the live show. Although the workflow was not fully automated, it reduced the operational burden during fast-paced portions of the ceremony and contributed to the polished, cinematic presentation.

The 2026 World Nomad Games represented a significant step forward for sports and live-event production in Central Asia. The combination of a newly built, technologically advanced stadium, aerial cable-camera coverage, large-format LED displays, and a 1,500-drone finale gave the Games a visual identity that extended well beyond the competition itself.

For viewers, the technology helped communicate both the scale of the venues and the intimacy of th

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/09/18/world-nomad-games-raise-the-bar...
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