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Tips for Making a Robot Costume
- Cover your entire costume in foil tape for a clean, shiny look.
- Use reflectors, strobe lights and Halloween lights for added safety and cool technical effect.
- Wear a thick grey sweatsuit underneath the costume.
- Wear heavy black gloves and black boots for added effect and warmth.
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The Robot Costume Makes an Impression
If you want to impress children for Halloween, why not make your own robot costume? This video shows the effects a homemade robot costume can have on kids, especially if you go above and beyond and add accouterments to the costume that will engage them such as buttons, toy guns and blinking lights.
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Introduction
- Robot costumes have been around for decades, and they've never gone out of style.365 Halloween: Robot Costume Robots are versatile, too: They can be evil villains, uptight but lovable sidekicks, or even comic relief.Star Wars: C-3PO Disney Videos: Wall-E 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.
- A common solution is to find an old cardboard box that approximately matches the human occupant's size.DisneyFamily.com: Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes - Robot Group Costume
- If you don't have big enough boxes lying around the house, they're pretty inexpensive to buy.
- Remember to use boxes that are in reasonably good shape, and don't need to be cleaned or dried.New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology: NMTRC - Halloween Costumes
- The natural shape of most boxes is also great for a clunky, old-timey robot look.365 Halloween: Costume Idea: Robot Costume
- Another option is to find a large, plastic box or storage bin which can be modified to fit over the body.Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Michael K.
- Plastic will be much sturdier than cardboard, and may be easier to paint since cardboard sometimes needs a coat of primer before painting.Creatrope: High Tech Robot Halloween Costume Incorporating AVRs
- The natural contours of your specific plastic bin often also look more futuristic than a cardboard box.Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Heaton J.
- 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!Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Michael K.
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.
- 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.Creatrope: High Tech Robot Halloween Costume Incorporating AVRs
- Some decorations can simply be drawn onto the body of the costume. A few cool ideas include:
- Gears and on/off switchesCoolest Homemade Costumes: Coolest Robot Costume 15 by Buffy Hutchins
- Seams to simulate metal plating and rivetsMAKE Blog: Homemade robot costume (October 10, 2006)
- Circuit diagramsCoolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Heaton J.
- Your robot's specific name (don't forget the "-bot" suffix at the end!)Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Michael K.
- You can also attach detailed items onto the flat portions of the costume body:
- Mechanically-themed props like gauges, dials and control boxes.Flickr: Nearly Done Robot on Flickr - Photo Sharing! Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Groovy R. DisneyFamily.com: Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes - Robot Group Costume
- Shiny materials which will catch surrounding lights, including bike reflectors, used DVDs and CDs and even powered LED lights!Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Michelle B. Coolest Homemade Costumes: Coolest Mama And Baby Robot Costume Creatrope: High Tech Robot Halloween Costume Incorporating AVRs
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.
- 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.New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology: NMTRC - Halloween Costumes You'll use the same materials, and be able to make them look as similar to each other as possible.
- 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.
- You can keep it real simple, and just cut holes at around eye-level.DisneyFamily.com: Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes - Robot Group Costume
- 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.Creatrope: High Tech Robot Halloween Costume Incorporating AVRs
- For an extra mechanical look, you can also attach sunglasses or additional eye-pieces to the exterior of the head-piece.Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Michael K. Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by Groovy R.
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!
- 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.New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology: NMTRC - Halloween Costumes
- 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.Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Michelle B.
- If you're letting arms and legs peek through the facade, you can keep the mechanical theme alive by wearing a gray sweatsuit.Family Fun: Retro Robot
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.
- Shape the pieces out of cardboard, giving it corners and angles like a true machine.Flickr: kostum on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
- 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.MAKE Blog: Kid Robot Costume
- If you're feeling extra fancy, there's always room for other nifty, futuristic-looking materials like sun-reflective padding instead of plain cardboard.Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Michelle B.
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.
- Unlike the rest of the costume, the arms and legs need to retain their flexibility so you can move about.
- Aluminum foil duct tubes are a great material to use because they are light, flexible and already metallic-colored.DisneyFamily.com: Easy Homemade Halloween Costumes - Robot Group Costume They're also relatively inexpensive and easy to find in a hardwarestore.Creatrope: High Tech Robot Halloween Costume Incorporating AVRs
- Other kinds of flexible materials can be used as well, not just aluminum ducting. Different colors can be advantageous.Coolest Homemade Costumes: Costume submitted by: Michael K.
- 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.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
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