Swiss Startup Tests LED-Fronted Ball Caps That Turn A Crowd Into An Aggregated Sign

Tip of the hat to AV Interactive for writing about this ...

If I had to characterize my opinion on this, it would involve a big, long hmmmm …

A Swiss startup called Dynavisual put little LED screens on ball caps worn by 98 fans who were at a European Handball match in Switzerland, with the caps positioned as enhancing the fan experience.

It is a variation, I suppose, on LED wristbands that light up during concerts by artists like Coldplay. Or a different, more portable take on LED lights at seating, something done with paddles bolted to seats at the 2012 London Olympics stadium.

The caps displayed animations and special effects, including flames and symbols and the home team’s mascot throughout the game.

Here’s what Dynavisual says:

On April 4th, 2024, Dynavisual successfully tested its World Innovation IoT Platform during a quarterfinal matchup of the QHL Playoffs between Pfadi Winterthur Handball and Suhr Aarau at the AXA-Arena in Winterthur, Switzerland. This marked the first time their technology was used in a live sporting environment. With 98 LED pad-fitted caps, the revolutionary technology significantly enhanced the fan experience and engagement of the crowd.

The sync’d stuff – all the caps lighting at once for, let’s say, a goal – makes sense and has some visual interest. But the small animations on individual hats seem a bit cheesey and pointless in a crowd setting.

I also think this sync’d lighting stuff works better for concerts, because the house lights are off. That’s not the case at typical sports events, where they might be dimmed a bit but not switched off. This was a proof of concept, so maybe the use-case and ambient lighting situation doesn’t matter.

The company’s website identifies big sports and entertainment venues as a primary use-case – so 1,000s of these hats (or pads, as they call them) running at once. Interestingly, it also suggests the little LED pads could be used for safety alerts on hig viz jackets or embedded into fabric seats on passenger rail lines, indicating whether a seat is free or reserved.

European handball, for people reading that term and being a bit baffled, is an awesome sport that has a bit of basketball and a bit of soccer to it. It is big in Europe, with pro leagues, but very much a fringe game in North America.

This video shows what Dynavisual put together and how it worked at the game. Warning the background music is loud and the sort of thing used in the big moments of B movies when the worlds is saved from an asteroid hurtling towards it.