U-M, Ford open robotics complex to accelerate future of advanced, more equitable robotics and mobility The University of Michigan and Ford Motor Company are opening a new advanced robotics facility. U-M’s Ford Motor Company Robotics Building is a four-story, $75-million, 134,000-square-foot complex situated on the north campus. As the new hub of the U-M Robotics Institute, its first three floors hold custom U-M research labs for robots that fly, walk, roll and augment the human body—as well as classrooms, offices and makerspaces. The fourth floor houses Ford’s first robotics and mobility research lab on a university campus, as well as 100 Ford researchers—including autonomous vehicle researchers—and engineers.