Discret Fachjournal der Unterhaltungsgastronomie December 1998

TiLE Award for LOBO Laser
At this year´s TiLE in Strasbourg, known as the international marketplace for new attractions in amusement parks, the South-German company LOBO electronic from Aalen showed for the first time how laser light can be become a fascinating medium with the application of modern technology. The new laser and multimedia workstation LACON-5 was well received by the jury at the fair. The device was honored with the coveted "TiLE Award of Excellence" as the outstanding product of the year.
The jury, consisting of producers like the company Silicon Graphics, designers of new attractions as well as of representatives of amusement parks like Disney, acknowledged with this award the innovative user interface, the flexible hardware concept as well as the outstanding multimedia capabilities. The LACON-5 opens new dimensions for interactive and multimedia use of laser  technology. With this device, it is possible for the first time to control up to 12 laser projectors, lighting systems, videos, slides, sound and complex peripheral devices by one computer in real time. Up to now, a show controller, SMPTE-controlled light controllers, sound equipment, laser systems and, sometimes, a slide and video controller were needed for larger shows or events, always terminating their cooperation whenever their functioning was important. Now a single machine is combining all medial components in perfection. It goes without saying, that this not only finds expression in a lower price but also in a better operation security. Besides the programming and performance of pre-produced shows the real time capability of the LACON-5 also allows the realization of interactive games or of walkthrough multimedia adventure worlds. To achieve this, LOBO´s new generation of high end workstations bundles up the advantages of the transputer for real time application together with the computer power of the latest generation's DSPs and the flexibility of a PC front-end into a hybrid parallel computer system. The resulting computing power makes this machine the worlds most progressive and fastest laser animation system. A pen-based show creation environment with LCD tablet, a 3D-puck with 6 degrees of freedom, soft keys and LED-lit sliders makes the production of complex three-dimensional shows a child´s play even for untrained amateurs. The new “toy of unlimited possibilities” seems only to wait for what the creatives of the branch get out of it.