Giant Robot Costume

In this instructable I will show you how to make a giant robot costume on a budget.  In total, the suit costed roughly 30-50$ and was made almost entirely out of cardboard.  It took me over two years of procrastination to finally finish (as you can see from the various hair styles in the pictures).  I wore this costume out to Salem, MA on Halloween a couple years back and got a huge response; every person that ran into me on the street wanted a picture with me.

The full description of the costume would be: Small Scientist Controling Giant Robot Suit, but that would make for a rediculous title.

List of materials (may vary):
Lots of cardboard
Great Stuff foam
Black/silver spraypaint
Black duct tape
Plastic shopping bags
Velcro
Styrofoam pieces
Safety pins
Thick string
Drinking straws
Underarmor longsleeve shirt and pants(should be tight)
Black and white fabric

List of tools:
Scissors
Hacksaw
Hot glue gun
Sharp knife/razor blade

The steps in this instructable are laid out as follows:
Step 1: Legs
Step 2: Arms
Step 3: Scientist
Step 4: Assemble

Each step may be broken down into smaller steps.

Step 1: Legs

The legs are cardboard boxes that are roughly the length of my entire leg, and are just wide enough to fit my foot with a shoe on in comfortably.  In the picture you will see me standing on something inside the leg, I will get to that in the next step.

For the robot's "foot", I simpy duct taped a piece of cardboard that was shaped like a robot foot.  These are STRICTLY COSMETIC, and do not aid in navigating around, in fact they make it harder sometimes.  I made the foot so that it would bend in a natural-looking motion.  You can see that motion in action here:



For the top, I had already ripped out the folding flaps, so I had to make new ones and hot-glue them in.  I cut sections of styrofoam to the shape of my leg right around where my knee joint is.  You can see in the pictures that the leg-holes are set back, this is to aid in balance.  In step 4, you will see how these come in handy.

Comments

[Kard Bord]

Very cool man! I'm a recycling artist and you gave me the perfect costume for this halloween, I'm going to see if I still have time to do it.

[psycho_3852]

i like this a lot, really cool and im defiantly going to do this for Halloween

[MechAlucard]

Great Job! I've been making cardboard mecha costumes for the past four years now. I do one a year and take a week or so to make it. My latest was Zeorymer Wore it around the street the other day and shocked the neighbors... My sister recorded it and turned it into a music video... There are lights in it but you cant see it very well in broad daylight...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3V9RruqdQE

[LuciferJr]

did you find this hard to walk in?

[ldb477]

Yeah it was pretty difficult, but it got easier once I got the hang of it. It is nearly impossible to ascend or descend inclines, so I had to stick to flat ground. Eventually I was traversing cobblestone streets no problem, and luckily never fell. The next version will have an aluminum inner skeleton that will involve a pivoting "foot" at the bottom, which will hopefully allow more mobility.

[LuciferJr]

i thought it would because i made a midget costume out of 2 trashcans and i tripped constantly so i had to trash them...no pun intended

[D00M99]

Your elevated stilts are wonderful! I'm gonna do a mech costume and wanted to elevate myself, and this is a great way to do it! How heavy are you?

[ldb477]

I weigh roughly 120 lbs give or take 5 lbs. I'm positive that doing it this way could support well into the 160 range. Just keep in mind that ALL of your body weight will supported by each leg at a time, and won't be evenly distributed all the time. The criss cross hatch pattern I used to step on was a great way to reduce weight and give me support at the same time. I plan to experiment with the same setup using fiberglass instead of cardboard, maybe you could give that a try! Thanks!

[D00M99]

I tried it, but with difficult results. The time it took to cut it out and to assemble it (which was actually really hard to intermesh) was way too much; I'm going to have to resort to stacking cardboard pieces.

At least I have a stool now. ;)

[outsidethewall33]

Where did you find whole boxes that were the length of your legs? Let alone 2 of them.

[ldb477]

I work at a Chuck E Cheese's and we get delivered tickets that come in these boxes. Its funny though because I was fooling around with the empty boxes one day putting them on my limbs and that's where I came up with this idea.

[miggysay]

Could you maybe have used a piece of plywood for part of the base with two holes in it and used some rope to tie to your feet to it? Just a thought, not exactly sure if it would actually work though >_<

[ldb477]

There were multiple variations of the "foot mounting" that were thought up. What you just described was one of the first ideas that I had, but through trials and trubulations I found that I still would have needed to attach the plywood to the rest of the "footing" so that the whole leg would come up with my own. Another key factor was weight, and being basically 100% cardboard, adding wood to the mix would have made it too heavy to be comfortably carried around.

[miggysay]

Ahh, well said. Great instructable!

[beachflight]

I love how the scale and illusion of this are mindbending, yet it is incredibly simple in design. It is not as hard just to make something incredible as it is to figure out how to accomplish it in a simple way. I definitely want to try this sometime!

Grocery bag + foam + box + shoe = genius!

[ldb477]

Thank you! I'm really happy to hear that. You are absolutely right about what you said too, each part of this was made completely from scratch and without using any other plans to base it off of. The design process was just as important as the construction process, and they combined throughout many times.

[codongolev]

it's similar to my costume this year, except mine is going for more of an "escaped government supersoldier" kind of thing. powerisers for supercool running, a helmet with a blacked out face, a microphone attached to a portable amp, and some homemade claws, plus a t-qualizer for effect.

[ldb477]

Nice! Sounds impressive, I would love to see pictures of it when its done. It's always good to have a "theme" haha.

[salazam]

OMG this costume is great! It's so awesome I wouldnt' even call it a costume! It's like a power-suit! I love the elevated stance to make you tall! The moving fingers are excellent! The locking leg pieces! With just a little attention to detail this costume could be EPIC!!! (like hiding the duct tape by covering the surface before you paint it.... maybe a waist piece too). I am gonna copy you next year!

[ldb477]

Nice! Thank you! I'm glad I could be of some inspiration for you. Almost daily I think about converting the suit to aluminum and fiberglass. Then I would have to wear it more often haha.

[Screamo]

Your only impressing Creeps :D

[Greasetattoo]

GREAT costume..
But..It looks unfinished.
Especially in the lower mid section and arms.

Love the little scientist!
Great idea!

Pictures are a little cluttered and dark.
But, GREAT instructable!

[ldb477]

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment and criticism. The costume may look unfinished in spots because of the camera's flash, albeit it is just cardboard with duct tape and spraypaint. The overall effect was to have a costume that would be presentable in low-light situations, such as the nighttime outdoors. It probably looks better in person, and I am upset that I never actually got footage of me walking around with it in public.

[Screamo]

U looks ccreepy.

[ldb477]

I dress to impress B:-J

[LemurX]

Oh the feet are fantastic! Definitely gonna use that method in next year's Comic-Con costume.

[ldb477]

Thank you! I had endless ideas for the feet including coathanger wires, more styrofoam, dodgeballs... turns out the best idea was the simplest.

[nave]

is this your take on the "giant cardboard robot"?

[ldb477]

I've seen many cardboard robots around and decided to do something a little different. I wanted to avoid the 1950s box robot look that usually ends up happening and do something a bit more modern.

[falcotheimpaler]

i'm not gonna lie, this is absolutely the greatest $0 costume i've ever seen. I like your style.

[ldb477]

Thank you! I call it broke engineering.

[piercebeme]

very nice work all together

[ldb477]

Thanks a lot! :)

[Dream Dragon]

I REALLY like the "Scientist Guy" that's a nice touch.

[tweeder82o]

at first just a giant robot costume soudned "good", but the addition of the tiny scientist makes it "great"!