Boniface Engineering showed their inventive side recently, by working alongside a fellow Thetford based company, Warren Services, to produce Take That’s “Robotic Man”.

Norfolk’s best kept engineering secret, saw Warren Services and Boniface Engineering tasked with turning the designs of Hertfordshire-based stage specialists Brilliant Stages into reality. Not only was the venture top secret, it was also a race against time as the firms only had a matter of weeks to construct the giant steel, aluminium and fibreglass figure and make sure he could walk tall when the music began to play.

Richard Bridgman, chairman of Warren Services, said “Take That always demands something spectacular…we made all the skeleton for the man and the arms, legs and hands and all the operating parts. We did it within two months. The team from Brilliant Stages were here designing it while we
were making it, so while we were making the legs they were designing the arms.” The heavier work to create his spine and to adapt the truck crane used to make him stand was done by nearby Boniface Engineering.

David Hall, project engineer at Boniface, said that he got the call on Christmas Eve to see if the company would take on the £220,000 job. To create OM, the robotic man’s working title, the team adapted a recovery crane vehicle to make a special rotating boom, which would enable him to stand up and down.