ANN ARBOR, Mich. 鈥� Digit marches on two legs across the floor of the University of Michigan鈥檚 Ford Motor Co. Robotics Building, while Mini-Cheetah 鈥� staccato-like 鈥� does the same on four and the yellow-legged Cassie steps deliberately side-to-side.
A grand opening was held Tuesday for the four-story, $75 million, 134,000-square-foot (11,429-square-meter) complex. Three floors house classrooms and research labs for robots that fly, walk, roll and augment the human body.
On the top floor are Ford researchers and engineers and the automaker's first robotics and mobility research lab on a university campus.
Together, they will work to develop robots and roboticists that help make lives better, keep people safer and build a more equitable society, the school and automaker announced Tuesday.
鈥淎s we all drive and use our vehicles and go about our day-to-day lives, I鈥檓 sure all of us have moments in our day where we could use a little help or a little assistance,鈥� said Ken Washington, Ford鈥檚 chief technology officer.
鈥淲e are going to be working on drone technology, walking robots, roving robots, all types of robots in this facility and the ways in which they can make people鈥檚 lives better,鈥� Washington added. 鈥淎nd we鈥檒l do it in a way that addresses questions and fears around safety and security. The more people see how these robots can interact with society and interact with humans, the more comfortable they鈥檒l get with them.鈥�
The building on the university鈥檚 Ann Arbor campus brings together researchers from 23 buildings and 10 programs into one space. Those working on two-legged disaster response robots can test them on a 30-mph (48-kph) treadmill studded with obstacles or on a stair-stepped 鈥渞obot playground鈥� designed with the help of artificial intelligence.
Biomedical engineers are looking at developing lighter, more stable prosthetic legs. Ford engineers are exploring how upright Digit robots can work in human spaces.
鈥淲e want them to be able to operate in realistic situations ... you get out in the real world where there鈥檚 rolling, twigs,鈥� said Jessy Grizzle, the Robotics Institute director. 鈥淭here鈥檚 rocks. There鈥檚 boulders. There鈥檚 holes that you can鈥檛 see because the grass is cut flat, and then you want your robots to respond well and stay upright just like a human would.鈥�
Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford and other automakers are investing billions of dollars in autonomous vehicles. and robotics is expected to play a major role in their development. Ford announced in February that it was autonomous vehicle investment to $7 billion, from sensing systems to specific research into applications such as Digit, a spokesman said.
In November, Ford revealed plans to transform a long-vacant Detroit book warehouse into a hub for automobile innovation. Detroit's Corktown
People one day may see a robot similar to Digit emerge from a driverless vehicle, stroll across their lawn and leave a package at the door of homes in their
鈥淭his is an exciting proposition, especially in this post-COVID era where the promise of doing shopping online has become just sort of the norm,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s you think about a future where package delivery is going to be part of daily life, this is a real opportunity for us to pair a robot with an autonomous vehicle to help solve the problem of package delivery at scale.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not here today, but you can be pretty certain that it鈥檚 coming in the not-too-distant future,鈥� Washington said.
Researchers working together in the building are designing robots for people, said Alec Gallimore, dean of Engineering at the University of Michigan.
鈥淩obots aren鈥檛 people and people aren鈥檛 robots, but we think 鈥� together 鈥� there can be synergy,鈥� Gallimore said. 鈥淪o, we鈥檙e designing robots that are going to help you. First responders for example. Can we put robots in harm鈥檚 way so we don鈥檛 have to have people there?鈥�
Ford contributed about $37 million to the cost of the robotics building which also features a three-story, indoor fly zone to test drones and other autonomous aerial vehicles indoors; a yard designed with input from scientists at the university and NASA to test vehicles and landing concepts on a landscape mimicking the surface of Mars.
The University of Michigan and Ford also are working with two historically Black colleges in Atlanta, Morehouse and Spelman, allowing students there to
Corey Williams, The Associated Press
