In 2011, Twitter user MT suggested to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing that a statue of RoboCop would make a “great ambassador” for Detroit. From that seed of an idea, the “Detroit Needs RoboCop” project raised over $60,000 through Kickstarter to actually build a life-sized or larger replica of one of the city’s most famous icons. After two years of planning, scanning, and fabrication, the project’s creators have posted pictures of a ten-foot-tall RoboCop prototype, ready to be cast in bronze and set up in the city.
See a prototype of Detroit’s ten-foot-tall RoboCop statue before it’s cast in bronze
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
The above statue model was made by 3D-scanning a smaller model of RoboCop, then enlarging it and manufacturing individual pieces from foam, wax, clay, and steel. It will ultimately be cast by a local Detroit bronze works, and several sites have been proposed, though as of early 2013 the creators hadn’t made a final decision. Many more pictures are up on Kickstarter, and Michigan’s MLive.com has reported that the statue could be in place by mid-2014.
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