Ikan Studio Rover

The Project

Ikan wanted to crack a genuinely hard problem: fit an entire production studio (camera, teleprompter, lighting, switching, patch I/O) onto something one person could roll into a room and have live in minutes. That became the Studio Rover, and it's already won Best of Show at NAB and Best of Show at InfoComm.

A studio on wheels is only as good as the cart holding it together. It has to hit broadcast spec and shrug off years of getting pushed around. That's the part Ikan brought to us.

Bigfoot's Role

We designed and built the cart, working with Ikan through the whole process to fold every subsystem (rack, lift, prompter, lighting, I/O) into one chassis that's easy to service and ready for the road. Ikan credits it right on their own product page: the “Mobile Cart by Big Foot Mobile Systems.”

Here's what went into it:

• Dual 19″ 6RU shock-mounted racks, front and back. The 12U base takes gear up to 30″ deep, meets EIA-310 spec, and rides on eight shock absorbers to keep vibration out.
• Frame Body Armor around the edges and corners, because these carts get rolled into walls and still have to work.
• Four heavy-duty locking casters for steady, controllable moves across any floor.
• Tool-less ventilated doors and active forced-air cooling, with dual intake and exhaust fans so it stays cool under load.
• Top-deck patch panel slopes for custom D-series I/O, so you can reach your connections without opening the rack.
• An aluminum column base with built-in brackets for the motorized lift, plus a clean cable pass-through and an integrated rear power pod.

The Result

The Studio Rover ships as a finished production studio in two flavors: Studio Rover One (HDMI/SDI) and Studio Rover Two (NDI and REMI-ready). You'll find it in executive comms suites, corporate town halls, REMI and remote broadcasts, podcast and home studios, remote lecturing, even telemedicine. Basically anywhere that needs a real studio that can move.

This is the work we like best. Someone hands us a tough build, and we turn it into something that holds up out in the world. Got a product or a production that needs a cart built around it? Let's talk.