Will Krause

Someday many years from now, my grandkids will ask me “Grandpa, were you ever a television robot star?” And I will be able to honestly tell them “Yes children, I was an EVIL television robot star.

I built this robot out of all sorts of odds-and-ends. A funnel, bucket, two mini plasma spheres to make a head, and two wheelbarrows to make a body. The legs are made from wiggle board and plywood, and then I attached a bunch of wires and junk circuit boards… with plenty of silver paint to make things look futuristic.

Courtland Premo made a remote control base for the robot by dissecting a remote-control golf bag carrier.

It gets very hot in a robot costume!

This red robot needed some modifications so that it would not look like a toy commercial when it made an appearance on Sesame Street to illustrate the word “activate.”

I disassembled the robot and removed the speaker and some random ear-popping and eyebrow-raising functions, added some details, and painted it a more generic silver color.

This comic appeared in a compilation about robots going haywire.

I learned to love polystyrene foam on this project. Sure, static electricity leads to annoying dust everywhere, but it is incredibly easy to sculpt to a smooth, kinda durable finish. Plus I got to use pipe cleaners & construction paper!