Jason Lentz is a man with a rather unique passion; one which is realised with tape, cardboard, his vast imagination and a lot of free time. If you ever thought your hobby was time consuming, just imagine how long it would take to build a 12 foot robot…which you wear! Axiom caught up with robo-maker to find out more!
How did you first get interested in building your own robots? Was it a fancy dress idea that got out of hand, or were you always interested in robotics?
The original inspiration for my giant cardboard robot suit was actually not a robot at all, but a large puppet/costume from the Jim Henson Studio called Mudo. Mudo was the giant furry creature from the movie Labyrinth.
One day in college, I started wondering about how one could go about building a costume that would make one appear larger than life, and before I knew it, I had the designs for my original cardboard robot suit. Initially, I was thinking the cardboard framework would just be a base structure that I could build on, but once I built it, the basic structure was pretty fun as is.
I did eventually play around with doing different designs of the suit, including one that was intended to be a giant rock golem, but the robot form seems to be the biggest hit.
Can you remember the first cardboard robot you put together? How long did you spend putting it together?
Absolutely! I don’t remember how long I spent on the designs, but once I had drawn out my plan of how to build it, I managed to put it all together within a week or two of late nights in the architecture studios of Carnegie Mellon University. I didn’t have much of a budget being a broke college student, so that lead me to my construction material choice of cardboard. For my stilts, I just appropriated some short art stools and duct taped my shoes to them. This gave each step a very satisfying metal clanking sound as I tromped around campus.
The designs now are very elaborate and cool, do you spend a long time designing the suit before you put it together, or is it a more “organic” process?
I’d say the process for designing the suit has been iterative. Some of the changes came about because of problems I found once I put the suit on. For example, I quickly found a design flaw with the first suit that prevented me from bending at my mid section thus keeping me from being able to sit down without knocking the torso backwards. I ended up adding a cut in the chipboard briefs part that afforded some room for my stomach, if I ever found something tall enough to sit on. Note the subtle difference in the briefs in the below photos:
In the second version, I experimented with giving it a blue and yellow color scheme, as well as building my own stilts out of 2x4s. Also I added a tube that extended up the forearm allowing me to swivel the wrists. This added a subtle but nice addition to the fluidity of the arm movements.
For the third version I covered it all with crumpled newsprint paper to make it look like a giant rock golem. That illusion was somewhat ruined by the rustling and crinkling that accompanied every motion I made. But being a giant walking mass of paper wasn’t bad either.
For my fourth version, I painted the suit all black and wore my graduation cap and gown over it as I walked up to get my masters degree diploma from the Masters of Entertainment Technology program. Pictures of this version can be found here, and here is a video of me walking to get my diploma.
I gave the suit a rest for about seven years, but I rebuilt it again for Burning Man 2009 (a week long festival in the desert of Nevada). This time I changed the visual design back more towards the original, but modified it so that it could be easily broken down into packable pieces. With the exception of the stilts, the suit could now be packed down to fit into the handy travel size box.
My plan was to have an army of the suits romping around on the desert, but due to the time consuming nature of creating the suits with all of their iterative improvements, I only got four made in time. Pictures of the suits romping around in the desert at Burning Man can be found here.
The suit has gone through a variety of other cosmetic iterations since coming out of hibernation including adding a cardboard top hat and steam punk looking back attachment, and all white color scheme with a giant robot head. I even dressed up the suit as a robot pirate for Halloween 2010. Here’s a video of me wearing that version attempting to get into a club for a Halloween costume contest. It’s a little dark but you can sort of get a sense of the scale of the suit. Incidentally, the suit took third place that year, and first place the preceding year at the same Halloween contest.
Which suit are you most fond or proud of? Any particular reason why?
I think the version that I’m most fond of is the version that I’m about to release. It’s not too different from its previous version with the exception of it being mass produced! I’m currently in the progress of talking with different cardboard box companies to get a cost effective way for me to start churning out suits so that I might have an army of robots greater than four. I’d love for everyone who wants their own suit to be able to get one. The more the merrier, and I’m doing my best to make that happen.
Were you interested in Japanese cartoons like Mazinger Z or Gundam when you were growing? Do they still influence your work in any way?
I grew up watching the Robotech series, and later got into more Anime movies and series while in college. Among my favorites are the series Escaflowne, Battle Angel, and also I’m a fan of most of Miyazaki’s works. I grab my influences from all over though. The more influences one has, the stronger your work.
Cos-play is obviously huge in Japan, have you ever been to Asia, or do you have any aspirations to do so?
I have not yet been to Asia, but I do enjoy traveling and experiencing different cultures. Japan is definitely on my list of places to check out. I suppose I’ll have to bring one of my giant cardboard robot suits with me. 
Are you allowed to talk about your next project? If so, what do you have in mind?
Absolutely. There are still some very big things I’d like to do with my giant cardboard robots. Currently I’m looking to mass produce the suits so that not only can other people have their own suit, but so I can amass an army of them to join me in attending Burning Man once again. This time I’ll have way more than 4 suits walking around. Dozens of the suits would be good. Hundreds would be better. Cutting them all out by hand is just too time consuming for what I’d like to do, and finding the right cardboard box company has proven to be more challenging than I expected.
I also have plans for other improvements to the suit including articulated fingers and other accessories that can be added to suits to fit various occasions. Mostly though, I am eager to see what others will do with my suits. I see each one as its own canvas for people to experiment with and make their own.
For your average suit, what kind of materials do you use? How long does it take to put it all together?
The suit is almost entirely made out of cardboard. The only non-cardboard elements, besides glue and velcro, are the stilts which I build out of 2x4s. Starting from scratch, I think an entire standard suit would take me at least two solid weekends worth of work. One of the reasons it takes so long is that because of its collapsible design, the cuts are more elaborate and require a greater degree of precision. Once everything is cut out, I use wood glue to permanently attach some pieces and add strips of velcro to various edges for quick and easy assembly and dis assembly. Once all the pieces are all velcroed and ready, the whole suit can be assembled in about 10 minutes or less.
What kind of reactions do you get from people when you are wearing the suits? Are children terrified or fascinated by you?
Mostly people seem to be in awe. Some kids love it. Some kids are terrified to tears by it. Either way, the kids can barely take their eyes off me. Most people ask for pictures and I’m happy to oblige. It’s a big hit with the adults too. One surprising thing I’ve found is how popular the giant cardboard robot suit is with the ladies.
One of my favorite random interactions I had with the suit was at the Decompression Festival in San Francisco (Decompression is post-burning man after party). People dress up as all sorts of things for this event. One person dressed up as Batman saw me, and said “Hey! We need to fight!” Over the next several minutes an epic improvised battle unfolded as the crowd cheered both of us on. Fortunately someone caught most it on video and posted it to Youtube here:
Do you have any advise for people who want to replicate your awesome creations?
Be prepared to put some time into it! On the surface, it just looks like it’s a bunch of cardboard, but it’s also a fair bit of work. It’s worth it though! Planning it out a head of time can save you a lot of headaches later when it comes to putting it all together. Also remember that the more precise you are with your cuts, the better your end results will look. And most important of all is be creative and have fun with it!
And don’t forget to post your pictures on the Facebook page! Craig Duffy in Los Angeles has already done so and made quite an appearance at a an annual masquerade ball (pictured here on boingboing.net).
How can people learn more about you and your fantastic robots?
The best place is on my facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/giantcardboardrobots
As soon as I have parts of the suit available for sale, I’ll be posting an announcement there. I also use the page for posting additional coverage the suit receives, updates about what events I’ll be wearing the suit to in the future, and other awesome cardboard and robot related links. Also on the Facebook page, one can find links to my etsy shop where I’ll soon be selling the suits again, as well as links to my Flickr account which has my giant cardboard robot suit pictures as well as a variety of other projects I do in my spare time.
