Rose Bowl Parade connection

Jan 08, 2026 Last reply: 6 months ago 2 Replies
J

One of my interns is a student at Cal Poly and did the automation for their Rose Bowl parade float. That's PCs, hydraulics, motors, LEDs, and the big animated google eyes on the robot.



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They won the prize for best float. He rode inside with three other guys to drive and run everything.



I asked him what the display technology is for the big eyes. It's the LED billboard hardware, lots of LEDs in little boxes addressed as shift registers.



I recall that our departed friend Jim Thompson said that he invented that LED billboard circuit.


John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics


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J

Rasberry driving the shift registors, here flights displayed: rtl_sdr_dump1090_via_FDS132_matrix_display_Raspberry_Pi_driver_IMG_4149.JPG

Payed 5 Euro or something for the displays in surplus shop, removed the controller and interfaced it to the Raspberry Pi:

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J

There were something like 25,000 flowers on that one float. And it rained. After the parade, they covered it with tarps and took it back to their warehouse. Next weekend they will disassemble it and use the custom truck frame next year.

I imagine maybe a ton or so of mouldy slimy flowers to deal with.

I was thinking about all the cute barely-dressed marching band girls out in the cold rain for two hours. Turns out they knew where the TV cameras were and covered up in between.

The project sounds cool, programming hydraulic PID loops and the big displays. I didn't have fun like that when I was in college.

John Larkin Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center Lunatic Fringe Electronics

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