Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood community has always been a place for builders, says Sonya Tilghman.
“For generations, families have worked in the mills and powered the region,” said Tilghman, executive director of the Hazelwood Institute. “We know what it means to build things that matter and take pride in skilled work.
“So there’s something especially symbolic about a world-class robotic facility being here on grounds shaped by industry determination.”
CMU on Friday unveiled its $100 million Robotics Innovation Center at Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh. The 150,000-square-foot building is on the site of a former steel mill.
University and city leaders say the center will bring together industry and research to accelerate education and technology development.
David Bennett, CMU’s vice president for university advancement, said robotics has been central to the university’s identity for decades.
“This facility was designed to foster collaboration, to bring together engineers, computer scientists, designers, policy experts and entrepreneurs in one dynamic, purpose-built environment,” Bennett said.
“It reflects how modern robotics research happens at the intersection of disciplines in spaces that encourage creativity, experimentation and real-world application.”
Earlier this week, CMU announced that California-based FieldAI would be the Robotics Innovation Center’s first corporate tenant. FieldAI has developed an artificial intelligence brain that makes machines autonomous.
“We believe that if we want to build the future of robotics, we should do it along the side of the institution that defined the field in the first place,” said Shayegan Omidshafiei, FieldAI’s president and chief science officer.
FieldAI’s product can allow robots to handle tasks considered too dull or dangerous for people. For example, the software has the ability for machines to navigate nuclear cleanup sites or power plants alongside workers in the skilled trades.
“The future of AI is not digital, but physical,” Omidshafiei said. “Intelligence has to learn how to leave the cloud, and operate in the real world, and safely — in mines underground, construction sites and disaster zones.
“When autonomy works in those settings, it carries the legacy of the site by making the hardest work in the world or the planet safer or more resilient.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro said the Robotics Innovation Center is the first of its kind in the country and can attract companies like FieldAI, which is valued at around $2 billion.
Shapiro announced the state will invest $1.5 million in support of the Robotics Innovation Center.
“Those dollars will be used to support the physical AI accelerator that will connect the dots between the cutting-edge work that’s done by CMU students and researchers with leading startups that want to take that technology out of the classroom and apply it to the real world,” Shapiro said.
Mayor Corey O’Connor said the site tells Pittsburgh’s story of reclaiming its industrial past, and creating new opportunities and generations.
“This project is going to make sure that Pittsburgh is everyone’s first choice,” he said. ‘It’s going to help continue to grow our city, but it’s also going to amplify our successes in Pittsburgh to the world stage.”
Tilghman, a 1998 CMU graduate, said the university was intentional in its engagement with the Hazelwood community.
“For longtime residents, this facility represents meaningful investment, not just in infrastructure but in relationship,” she said. “It reinforces that Hazelwood is a place where the future is being built.”
Also at Hazelwood Green, the University of Pittsburgh is building BioForge, an 185,000-square-foot building where Massachusetts-based cell and gene therapy manufacturer ElevateBio will serve as its main tenant.
Construction there is anticipated to wrap up this fall, with ElevateBio beginning operations next year. Pitt anticipates moving in by spring 2028.