How to Make a Robot Costume

Guide Note

Getting tired of your weak flesh-body contrasting the cold, metal heart which beats within you? Show your true colors this Halloween with the perfect robot costume. This page will show you how to retrofit your chassis with common household materials and a few simple steps.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Make the Robot Body
• Make the Helmet
• Make the Arms and Legs
• References for How to Make a Robot Costume

Tips for Making a Robot Costume

1. Cover your entire costume in foil tape for a clean, shiny look.
2. Use reflectors, strobe lights and Halloween lights for added safety and cool technical effect.
3. Wear a thick grey sweatsuit underneath the costume.
4. Wear heavy black gloves and black boots for added effect and warmth.

Newest How To Guides

Need to save money? Learn how to spend less on food

Try something different this Thanksgiving by making pumpkin cheesecake

All the information you need to make the digital TV switch

Help your business grow by writing a business plan

Travel sane by avoiding air travel delays

• by April Sanders

Introduction

• 

  (Creative Commons photo by rik)
  Robot costumes have been around for decades, and they've never gone out of style.¹ Robots are versatile, too: They can be evil villains, uptight but lovable sidekicks, or even comic relief.^{2 3} Besides, what is more fun than dressing up in something that has flashing lights, lots of sharp corners and makes you walk stiff-legged? It may not be the most flattering costume, but at least you won't be cold when you go trick-or-treating. Follow the steps below to create a robot costume anyone can enjoy this Halloween.

Make the Robot Body

• The core of your robot transformation lies in covering up your human torso, with its skin, bones and many internal organs. One of the most important steps will be to build a proper robot shell to cover your body.

Choosing Materials

• The key to building a convincing body is to find adequately-sized material that can cover your entire body, to hide as much of yourself as you can beneath a robotic facade.

1. A common solution is to find an old cardboard box that approximately matches the human occupant's size.⁴
   1. If you don't have big enough boxes lying around the house, they're pretty inexpensive to buy.
   2. Remember to use boxes that are in reasonably good shape, and don't need to be cleaned or dried.⁵
   3. The natural shape of most boxes is also great for a clunky, old-timey robot look.⁶
2. Another option is to find a large, plastic box or storage bin which can be modified to fit over the body.⁷
   1. Plastic will be much sturdier than cardboard, and may be easier to paint since cardboard sometimes needs a coat of primer before painting.⁸
   2. The natural contours of your specific plastic bin often also look more futuristic than a cardboard box.⁹
   3. Don't be afraid to use a bin that has a hinged or removable lid; this might make it easier to put on and take off the costume!⁷

Adding Details

• Without the lights, meters, knobs and levers, it's just a guy walking around in a box. Remember to add some robotic details to the robot body you've built. A little creativity goes a long way, here.

1. Regardless of the material you've used for the body, remember to cardboard sometimes needs a give it a good coat of gray, silver or other metallic-colored paint.⁸
2. Some decorations can simply be drawn onto the body of the costume. A few cool ideas include:
   1. Gears and on/off switches¹⁰
   2. 

      (Creative Commons photo by Steve Voght)
      Seams to simulate metal plating and rivets¹¹
   3. Circuit diagrams⁹
   4. Your robot's specific name (don't forget the "-bot" suffix at the end!)⁷
3. You can also attach detailed items onto the flat portions of the costume body:
   1. Mechanically-themed props like gauges, dials and control boxes.^{12 13 4}
   2. Shiny materials which will catch surrounding lights, including bike reflectors, used DVDs and CDs and even powered LED lights!^{9 14 8}

Make the Helmet

• They say that eyes are a window into the soul. And since robots have no souls, you need to build a helmet or head-piece to cover your face.

1. If you're making your robot body out of old cardboard boxes, it's often easiest to make your robot helmet at the same time.⁵ You'll use the same materials, and be able to make them look as similar to each other as possible.
2. Since the person inside the costume is still human, remember to make an opening in the head-piece so he or she can see out of it.
   1. You can keep it real simple, and just cut holes at around eye-level.⁴
   2. You can also dress it up a little bit by cutting ample space to see through, but draping transparent materials like old plastic packaging over the opening.⁸
   3. For an extra mechanical look, you can also attach sunglasses or additional eye-pieces to the exterior of the head-piece.^{7 13}

Make the Arms and Legs

• The most terrifying aspect of robot-kind is their physical resemblance to humans. Luckily, that means that when constructing your robot costume, you don't need to hide your appendages. Your arms and legs will be integral parts to the costume.

The Quick and Dirty Way

• Don't bother hiding your puny, human arms and legs; go without covering them!

1. If you've put enough time into your body and head construction, it might not be necessary to embellish your costume with extra coverings for your arms or legs.⁵
2. If you don't want to distress your child (or yourself, for that matter) by confining him or her within tight-fitting costume pieces, freeing up the arms and legs can be a great relief without detracting from the overall look of the costume.¹⁵
3. If you're letting arms and legs peek through the facade, you can keep the mechanical theme alive by wearing a gray sweatsuit.¹⁶

(Creative Commons photo by frankenstoen)

The Fancy Way

• Attach faux-robotic components to the arms and legs, in an effort to obscure-- not mask-- your humanity. Attached arm- and leg-pieces will let you play the robo-part, while still letting your arms move freely.
  1. Shape the pieces out of cardboard, giving it corners and angles like a true machine.¹⁷
  2. Build them so they can be held in place by human hands and feet, or make clever use of non-permanent adhesives like tape and velcro.¹⁸
  3. If you're feeling extra fancy, there's always room for other nifty, futuristic-looking materials like sun-reflective padding instead of plain cardboard.¹⁵

The Super-Deluxe Way

• Commit to the robot lifestyle and seal your entire body, arms and legs included, into your costume. You might have to trade off some of your human mobility, but you'll look robotic from head to toe.
  1. Unlike the rest of the costume, the arms and legs need to retain their flexibility so you can move about.
  2. Aluminum foil duct tubes are a great material to use because they are light, flexible and already metallic-colored.⁴ They're also relatively inexpensive and easy to find in a hardwarestore.⁸
  3. Other kinds of flexible materials can be used as well, not just aluminum ducting. Different colors can be advantageous.⁷
  4. If you're not looking for a flex-tubing texture on the appendages of your costume, you can get creative with materials. But remember that some materials may be more difficult to modify and reshape than others.¹⁹

References for How to Make a Robot Costume

1. ↑ 365 Halloween: Robot Costume
2. ↑ Star Wars: C-3PO
3. ↑ Disney Videos: Wall-E
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} DisneyFamily.com: Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes - Robot Group Costume
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2} New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology: NMTRC - Halloween Costumes
6. ↑ 365 Halloween: Costume Idea: Robot Costume
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4} Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Michael K.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4} Creatrope: High Tech Robot Halloween Costume Incorporating AVRs
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2} Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Heaton J.
10. ↑ Coolest Homemade Costumes: Coolest Robot Costume 15 by Buffy Hutchins
11. ↑ MAKE Blog: Homemade robot costume (October 10, 2006)
12. ↑ Flickr: Nearly Done Robot on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Groovy R.
14. ↑ Coolest Homemade Costumes: Coolest Mama And Baby Robot Costume
15. ↑ ^{15.0 15.1} Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Michelle B.
16. ↑ Family Fun: Retro Robot
17. ↑ Flickr: kostum on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
18. ↑ MAKE Blog: Kid Robot Costume
19. ↑ Instructables: CloroxBoy Recycled Giant Robot Costume!

More Suggestions for How to Make a Robot Costume

• Coolest Homemade Costumes: Robot Costume
• Family Fun: Retro Robot
• Instructables: Giant Robot Costume
• PBS Kids: Robot
• Sewing About.com: Robot Costume

Get Ready for Thanksgiving with Mahalo