Lighting positions in turn of the century theatres  were few and inadequate, especially in the front of house. Focusing and gelling a luminaire was an arduous and time consuming process as access to the luminaires was often extremely difficult. Consequently, as early as the 1930s, luminaires with remote controlled movement mechanisms were developed for use in inaccessible lighting positions. Early moving luminaires had three controllable parameters; panning, tilting and beam focusing. Sometimes a color change mechanism was added . These luminaires were popular in German repertory theatres where large quantities of luminaires were hung in positions with difficult access, and which, due to the needs of  repertoire turnover, had to be refocused once or twice every  day. Moreover, manual refocusing and color changing of several luminaires between the acts or scenes during a performance was common practice in these theatres. These remotely controlled mechanized luminaires enabled a substantial saving in labor and time and remained in use well into the 1960's. Remote controlled mechanized luminaires were eagerly adopted by the television studios which boomed in the 1950's, once more rather for the savings in labor and time than for their artistic potential.

German mechanized luminaires of the early thirties with a color changer, tilt and pan, and focus control. The Animator by Compulite, pioneers in moving lighting control

The first notable attempts to use remotely controlled mechanized luminaires for dynamic lighting design was at rock concerts in the 1970's. Sealed beams (PAR) were connected in a row and moved up and down in unison. The movement was controlled by the main lighting console where special control channels were assigned for this purpose. The big breakthrough came in 1978 when the rock group Genesis, on the brink of a new series of concerts, approached the Dallas based company Showco, asking them to develop new effects of moving light for their upcoming show. The first moving lights of this new generation were enormous and had six large mirrors

which were connected to the sound system and moved in accordance with the beat of the music. Although the apparatus was complicated, heavy and cumbersome, the effect of moving beams of light was a huge success, encouraging the manufacturers to develop more sophisticated yet more compact moving luminaires.

In 1981, Genesis set out on a tour of concerts equipped with the newest robotic moving luminaires, series VL-2 luminaire manufactured by Vari-Lite. The Vari-Lite luminaire, which has since undergone many improvements, incorporated computerized control - hence the name intelligent luminaire. The VL-2 has a 400 W HTI discharge lamp with a color temperature of 5600K. The entire luminaire pans on a 3600 rotational axis and has a 2700 tilt. Its color changing mechanism allows the use of a wide spectrum of color and it has an iris shutter, a gobo projection wheel, and an optical system for changing the focus of the light beam.

In 1981, the French firm Chameleon introduced a new intelligent luminaire, the Telescan, which relied on new computerized robotic technologies to effect movement of the light beam. The mechanism which moved the beam consisted of a plane mirror placed in front of the lens, attached to two small motors that panned and tilted the mirror. The light beam emanating from the luminaire was projected onto the mirror, which reflected it onto the stage, and the movement of the rotating mirror moved the beam on the stage. Luminaires with moving mirrors had been around for a while, yet the computerized robotics of the Telescan was a breakthrough which enabled extremely smooth beam movement. The beam positioning of the Telescan was extremely accurate, with a deviation of as little as 0.3O in 360O. The beam from a luminaire hung ten meters away could now be positioned with a deviation of less then five centimeters. This ability to move slowly and precisely enabled the Telescan luminaire to function also as a remotely controlled follow-spot. In order to maintain such precision, the Telescan luminaire was controlled by a computerized control board designed for intelligent luminaires which was introduced in 1984 by the Israeli company Compulite  . This system enabled control of the speed of movement and position of the mirror by dividing the full circle (3600) into approximately 40,000 discrete steps. The Telescan also introduced a revolutionary color system based on mixing of the three secondary colors with a sophisticated optical system, which provided a large palette of hues. A 1200W HMI discharge lamp generated a much brighter beam than previous generation moving luminaires.

The first moving light control for Telescan by Compulite.