His friends call him Gaige Pike. You can call him ROBOGaige.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office added a cutting edge “robot” to the force on Thursday, when it helped transform a 10-year-old boy with a serious heart condition into a crime-fighting machine for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Gaige changed into his chrome-armoured, RoboCop-inspired alter ego at the sheriff’s office on Thursday morning, shortly before he was sworn in for a day of superhero work.
Gaige’s costume was inspired by his love for robots, science and helping people, ClickOrlando reports.
ROBOGaige’s first mission took him to a nearby bank, where he led a SWAT team in catching a “robber” in the bank vault.
“These are the lasers I used to catch the bad guy,” RoboGaige told reporters after the arrest, according to local station WESH.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demmings gave ROBOGaige a medal for his efforts, but the robot-boy couldn’t stick around for the party. He was needed elsewhere.
ROBOGaige’s patrol later brought him to a burning building, where he helped fire crews put out the staged flames before “rescuing” a citizen from a collapsed structure.
It was all in a day’s work for ROBOGaige, whose origin story includes a lengthy battle with neoplasm, an abnormal tissue growth often linked to cancer.
He was diagnosed with the growth shortly after he was born, and he endured open-heart surgery for the condition last year.
“We are so incredibly proud that we got to be part of this hero’s journey,” police tweeted.