A rainforest community will work together to help restore its 40-foot robot friend in Cal Poly Pomona and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s 2026 Rose Parade float.
Titled, “Jungle Jumpstart, the float depicts animals such as a toucan and a ring-tailed lemur “using what they know best, materials from the jungle,” a Tuesday, Sept. 16, news release from Cal Poly Pomona states.
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The parade theme, The Magic in Teamwork, “is a tribute to the strength, resilience and connection that arise when a community comes together, proving that the magic in teamwork is not just an idea but a reality we live every day,” a February news release from the Tournament of Roses states.
The theme was announced a week after the Eaton and Palisades fires erupted.
The float is a year-round project by a team from each university that builds and designs the float from start to finish. It will be the two schools’ 77th entry in the parade.
This year’s float will include moving elements as heavy as 2,000 pounds and will feature a 40-foot-tall robot laying on the rainforest floor. A technicolor macaw will be perched on the robot’s hand 25 feet in the air, the release states.
Flowers and other materials will capture the “mystery of the rainforest.” The float will include carnivorous and other tropical plants. The robot will be made of a blend of blue corn grits and dusty miller, accented with patches of high magic roses.
“With each new float we take the lessons we’ve learned in prior years and push outside of our comfort zone to innovate and create something entirely new,” Amelia Atwell, president of the Cal Poly Pomona team, said in the release. “I’m looking forward to seeing the innovations that will come through that problem solving.”
The two universities have participated in the parade since 1949.
The students have won 63 awards, including the Leishman Public Spirit Award at the 2025 Rose Parade for their “Nessie’s Lakeside Laughs” float.
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