With every major release of Android, Google erects a themed statue of the operating system’s mascot, Bugdroid. This year, Android 14 sees the lovable green droid outfitted with an astronaut suit.
The statue, which will likely make its way to the Android offices outside the Googleplex, was seen photographed alongside a Google engineer (via Mishaal Rahman). The life-sized figure is apparently stationed by the Bay View front desk of Google’s Mountain View campus.
We have a lift off! This is likely the new statue for Android 14. It’s right by the front desk at Bay View in Google’s Mountain View campus, according to Jameson! Wish we could’ve seen this at #GoogleIO! https://t.co/DLSYL8RFYG
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) May 11, 2023
Rahman points out that he found the exact 3D model of the astronaut statue a year ago, which has been published online.
The space inspiration comes from the number “14” — it’s an homage to NASA’s Apollo 14 mission from 1971. The Android 14 easter egg logo even looks like the Apollo 14 insignia
After Google I/O 2023, the company released its second beta build of Android 14. The stable release is expected sometime in the late summer or early fall.
One thing is for certain — this year’s statue is less avant-garde than the swingset design we got alongside Android 13 last year.
Source: @softwarejameson Via: @MishaalRahman
