Hercules – The World’s Smallest Motion Control System on Kickstarter

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by Tim FokNovember 3^rd, 2015

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The Hercules is a compact, motion control camera system for smartphones, GoPros and DSLRs up to 20 pounds.

The Hercules is incredibly small and compact, the main module resembling nothing more than an oversized pen. It is a motion control system built for real-time and time-lapse with simplicity in mind; Powered off a single AAA battery and controlled by one button.

Despite it’s pocket residing form factor, the Hercules is capable of holding cameras up to 20 pounds; the larger wheels and cheeseplate help support the larger systems.

There’s a few different modes, adjusting the carrier arc (or removing it all together) along with the optional slider means you can achieve panoramic, curved tracking or linear tracking moves:

Curved Wheel Bracket

Panoramic Base

Linear Track

The brain module is where you slot in the AAA, on the other side is the single button for mode settings. The motor lives here, and it’s a combination of adding/removing accessories that enables the Hercules to operate in various modes.

Here’s the spec list:

• Product Weight: 4 oz/110 g (Hercules with curved wheel bracket)
• Max Camera Weight: 20 lbs./9 kg (using optional cheese plate for support)
• Max Continuous Speed: 1 inch/sec or 2.5 cm/sec
• Index Distance for Time-Lapse: .01″ – 1.0″ / .25 mm – 25 mm
• Index Cycle Time for Time-Lapse: 1 sec. – 60 sec.
• Power: 1 AAA battery
• Battery Life: up to 1.5 hrs for continuous move/up to 5 days in time-lapse mode

Makers Rollocam has absolutely smashed their pledge of a $25,000 goal. Currently sitting just shy of $95,000 with over 20 days to go.

Rewards scale in accordance to your required package. The base kit starts at $99 for the simple Panoramic Base up to $299 for the full kit including the slider track.

The Hercules looks like a very intuitive product, its compactness will make it very useful for many I’m sure. Balancing a larger camera system maybe a little tricky, and I’d imagine it would require very smooth surfaces to operate properly with the linear track. Check out the Kickstarter page for more info.