Ford Robotics Building

The Ford Motor Company Robotics Building is a new national centerpiece in robotics research, learning, and collaboration.

Opened in 2021, the Ford Robotics building is the home of Michigan Robotics. The 134,000-square-foot, four-story complex houses classrooms, offices, a cafe, and a startup-style open collaboration area and tailored lab space for a variety of robotic technologies. A few highlights include:

  • Three-story fly zone for autonomous aerial vehicles
  • An outdoor obstacle course for walking robots
  • High-bay garage space for self-driving cars
  • A rehabilitation lab with a Stewart platform, force plates, and dual-tread treadmill
  • A robotics maker space with CNC, 3D printers, soldering irons, and other shop tools
  • An outdoor Mars Yard with imitation martian rocks and soil for testing rovers
  • Earned Gold LEED Certification for its construction and design

And in a unique agreement, Ford leases the fourth floor to perform robotics research and engineering in collaboration with U-M and other industry leaders.

Ford Robotics Building at night
The Ford Robotics Building in early spring, 2021. Photo: Robert Coelius, Michigan Engineering.

What is its purpose?

The Ford Robotics Building brings all parts of the robotics enterprise together for real-world results.

The new building is designed to promote collaborative work across disciplines, involving students and faculty at all levels, from a variety of fields. It also promotes collaboration with external partners, including the Ford Motor Company, who have a permanent presence on site. It has spaces for teaching, experimentation, and testing, in purpose-built bays and laboratories that represent the state of the art. 

These facilities support a particularly distinctive characteristic of Michigan Robotics: its focus on hardware as well as software.

Michigan Robotics emphasizes making real robots. Many roboticists specialize in simulations, but implementing a real machine in the real world poses real challenges. These new spaces enable Michigan roboticists to take full advantage of their hands-on orientation in research and teaching, as they work to build machines that better society.

Other facilities

Among the many facilities open to Michigan Robotics students, faculty, and researchers, several provide unique opportunities to develop technologies safely, nimbly, and creatively. 

M-Air is a 10,000 sq ft, four-story, netted scientific facility that enables the study of autonomy and collaborative robotics in the “wild,” with emphasis on dealing with the full range of Michigan weather, -30C to 38C, with rain, sleet, wind, and snow. 

Mcity is a public-private partnership that operates the world’s first purpose-built proving ground for testing the performance and safety of connected and automated vehicles and technologies under controlled and realistic conditions, all on the Michigan campus.

Tours

We have created an audio tour for those who want to explore the building and hear from the roboticists themselves – just visit from Monday through Friday, 7am to 7pm with your mobile device and headphones, and follow the audio tour signs.

For the general public, we also have a limited number of student-led tours for Fall 2022. Please sign up here.

For prospective undergraduate students, we recommend utilizing the College of Engineering tour, which begins in our building but covers much more of campus.

For those unable to make it to Michigan, we recommend watching our YouTube channel and Instagram (where we occasionally livestream tours) to get a sense of what’s going on at Michigan Robotics and inside the building.

Address

Ford Motor Company Robotics Building
2505 Hayward St
Ann Arbor, MI
48109-2106