Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines opened in theaters on July 2, 2003 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in the third of the Terminator movies. If you look closely at the T-1 Battle Units you may catch a glimpse of the track drive systems build at Mattracks. In early 2002 Stan Winston Studios, a special effects company based in California, contacted Mattracks about the project. The work on the T-1 Battle Unit robot drive system started shortly after to allow time to meet the film production schedule.
The project was held in strict secrecy for over a year and involved the development of special track units along with a complete drive system and base for the robots. The specially designed tracks and drive systems shipped out to the studios late May 2002 for final assembly with the robots.
“The movie project was a unique opportunity for Mattracks and the talented engineering and manufacturing personnel,” states Glen Brazier CEO. “It really was a team effort, projects like this don’t come along every day and it takes involvement by everyone in the company to get it done. We get inquires almost every week about putting tracks on some unusual type of vehicle or another, but this was the first battle robot we developed tracks for, who knows what might be next.”