Pittsburgh: CMU Robotics Innovation Center#

A 150,000-square-foot university-anchored robotics research facility on a former steel mill site. Opened February 27, 2026 at Hazelwood Green — the former Jones & Laughlin Steel works along the Monongahela River.

Relevant as a precedent for the university-anchored research model of innovation infrastructure, distinct from the nonprofit commons model demonstrated by MassRobotics in Boston.

Overview#

What’s Inside#

• 50+ research labs
• High-bay testing floors (for large-scale robotics work)
• 1.5-acre outdoor test area
• Corporate co-tenant space — FieldAI ($2B robotics unicorn) moved in as first tenant
• Physical AI Accelerator (25,000 sq ft): $1.5M state funding, expected to open by March 2028

The facility is designed for work that can’t happen in a standard office building or university lab: testing autonomous vehicles, flying drones, operating heavy robotic systems. The high-bay floors and outdoor test area are the differentiators — large, configurable space used daily for research rather than episodically for events.

Detroit: Michigan Central + UM Center for Innovation#

Two innovation campuses being built within a mile of each other in Detroit — one corporate-anchored (Ford), one university-anchored (University of Michigan). Together they represent a third model of large-building reuse: corporate campus + urban innovation zone, distinct from both the nonprofit commons (MassRobotics) and university research (CMU RIC) models.

Michigan Central#

The Building#

The Michigan Central Station — Detroit’s iconic Beaux-Arts train station, abandoned in 1988 and left as a ruin for 30 years — was purchased by Ford in 2018 and restored as the anchor of a mobility-focused innovation campus. The $950M restoration is one of the most expensive adaptive reuse projects in American history.

Boston: MassRobotics — Innovation Commons Model#

An independent nonprofit robotics hub in Boston’s Seaport District. Relevant as a precedent for what a convention center building could become when operated as an industry commons rather than a single-use event facility.

Overview#

Self-described as “the world’s largest independent robotics hub.”