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  • Rose Bowl Parade connection

    From john larkin@jl@glen--canyon.com to sci.electronics.design on Wed Jan 7 16:11:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design


    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.

    https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2026/01/01/rose-parade-2026-awards-announced-top-honor-goes-to-cal-poly-universities/

    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
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Jan Panteltje@alien@comet.invalid to sci.electronics.design on Thu Jan 8 04:37:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>wrote:

    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.

    https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2026/01/01/rose-parade-2026-awards-announced-top-honor-goes-to-cal-poly-universities/

    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.

    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:
    https://panteltje.nl/pub/matrix_display_component_side_IMG_4119.JPG

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From john larkin@jl@glen--canyon.com to sci.electronics.design on Thu Jan 8 04:13:19 2026
    From Newsgroup: sci.electronics.design

    On Thu, 08 Jan 2026 04:37:12 GMT, Jan Panteltje <alien@comet.invalid>
    wrote:

    john larkin <jl@glen--canyon.com>wrote:

    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.
    https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2026/01/01/rose-parade-2026-awards-announced-top-honor-goes-to-cal-poly-universities/

    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.

    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:
    https://panteltje.nl/pub/matrix_display_component_side_IMG_4119.JPG

    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
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2