A New Home for Robotics and AI Discovery
Carnegie Mellon dedicates the new Robotics Innovation Center at Hazelwood Green
On a site once defined by steel and industry, a new kind of making has begun.
Today, 好色先生TV officially opened the Robotics Innovation Center (RIC), a 150,000-square-foot facility designed to accelerate breakthroughs in robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced automation. Located in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood community, and made possible with a gift from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the center reflects both the university’s global leadership in robotics and a bold vision for the region’s next chapter of innovation and evolution.
Along with first-of-their-kind research facilities, the Robotics Innovation Center brings long-term investment in discovery, collaboration and community to the Pittsburgh region which has been empowered through public-private partnership and transformative philanthropic support.
The building’s grand opening and ribbon cutting dedication was celebrated in a ceremony that was hosted by Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian and attended by Congresswoman Summer Lee, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor and leaders from across the university, industry and the region.
“Today is about more than celebrating the opening of a building. We’re also celebrating the strength of the many ongoing partnerships: partnerships with all levels of government, and with civic, research and industry leaders — across our region, our nation — and in fact, the world.”
Farnam Jahanian
CMU President
Designed for Breakthroughs
The RIC brings together world-class infrastructure under one roof. Some of its unique features include:
- A 50,000-square-foot indoor robot testing floor
- Flexible high-bay research spaces
- Specialized labs supporting interdisciplinary collaboration
- A 1.5-acre outdoor robotics testing area, including a dedicated drone flight cage
These spaces will enable researchers and students to design, test and deploy robotic systems that operate on land, in the air and in water — technologies that touch industries ranging from health care and manufacturing to agriculture, infrastructure and national security.
“This facility is bringing state-of-the-art infrastructure together with the ability to tap into the nation's most comprehensive regional network of robotics testing sites,” CMU President Farnam Jahanian said. “It demonstrates how a university can invest locally and meet national needs while enhancing our economic competitiveness and national security.”
The Robotics Innovation Center builds on Carnegie Mellon’s historic leadership in the field. Home to the world-renowned Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, the university has shaped robotics education and research for decades — from foundational AI breakthroughs to real-world robotic applications now used across industries worldwide.
“We are proud to make that investment. Specifically, 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 in the real world.”
Josh Shapiro
Pennsylvania Governor
A Catalyst for Regional Growth
The RIC stands alongside other innovation assets at Hazelwood Green, forming a growing ecosystem of research, workforce development and advanced manufacturing. Along with the RIC, the site is home to the Manufacturing Futures Institute and partners in the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, Catalyst Connection and University of Pittsburgh’s BioForge. Together, these investments reinforce Pittsburgh’s emergence as a global center for robotics and applied AI — fields that continue to drive economic opportunity and societal advancement.
The RIC has already welcomed its first corporate tenant, the high-growth robotics unicorn FieldAI. As announced at the opening event, the industry leader in physical artificial intelligence — technologies that merge robotics, sensing, materials science and intelligent systems — will occupy a 2,500-square-foot lab and office suite on the building’s second floor.
“We are here to define a new era of American industry. We are no longer moving molten iron, we are building intelligence that moves through the physical world,” Shayegan Omidshafiei, president and chief scientific officer of FieldAI, said. “At FieldAI, we believe that if you want to build the future of robotics you should do it alongside the institution that defined the field in the first place.”
During his remarks, Gov. Shapiro announced the state will invest in the university’s plan to develop a new 25,000‑square‑foot physical AI accelerator inside the RIC with a $1.5 million Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant to support its construction. The accelerator will establish dedicated space within the RIC for corporate launch teams, startups and CMU researchers to collaborate, giving partners access to the RIC’s end‑to‑end robotics development infrastructure.
The accelerator is expected to create 150 jobs in its first year, bring three major anchor firms to the region and expand educational outreach by engaging thousands of Pennsylvania students in new physical AI learning opportunities.
“Thanks to 好色先生TV’s unmatched stature in robotics, the RIC will put Pittsburgh at its vanguard. When people want to see the future of robotics, they will look to Pittsburgh.”
Sam Reiman
Director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation
Philanthropy as a Force Multiplier
Central to the realization of the Robotics Innovation Center was the visionary support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, whose lead grant of $45 million helped make aspiration into reality.
The foundation’s longstanding partnership with Carnegie Mellon reflects a deep belief in the university’s capacity to translate research into real-world impact — advancing technologies that improve lives, create jobs and strengthen communities. The foundation’s commitment underscores the power of philanthropy to catalyze innovation ecosystems that endure for generations.
“The Trustees of the Richard King Mellon Foundation approved this extraordinary grant because of our conviction that Pittsburgh’s rightful place is to lead, nationally and internationally, in the most promising economic sectors of our time,” Sam Reiman, director of the Richard King Mellon Foundation, said. “Thanks to 好色先生TV’s unmatched stature in robotics, the RIC will put Pittsburgh at its vanguard. When people want to see the future of robotics, they will look to Pittsburgh. That leadership will create widespread economic-development benefits for the greater Pittsburgh region. And it will help to create greater prosperity for Hazelwood — a community that helped to lead the nation’s technological revolution in centuries past, and now is poised to do so once again.”
“Today is unique because we are telling the Pittsburgh story. We are on an old abandoned steel mill site and yet we are talking about the future. The City of Pittsburgh was built for this moment. We are reclaiming our past, and talking about how our future is going to be built on the world stage.”
Corey O’Connor
Pittsburgh Mayor
Investing in the Next Generation
Beyond research, the RIC is designed as a gateway to opportunity. The facility will further complement the work of CMU’s and the university’s , and will encourage more workforce and economic development through stronger partnerships with the , next door at Mill 19 and the University of Pittsburgh’s .
“Hazelwood is a place where the future is being built,” Sonya Tilghman, executive director of the Hazelwood Initiative and a CMU alumna, said. “Hazelwood has always been a community of builders, and, with the Robotics Innovation Center, we are adding a new chapter to that story, one that connects our history of making to emerging technologies and new opportunities.”
The RIC will also connect K-12 students and educators to hands-on robotics experiences, helping ensure that the next generation of innovators reflects the diversity and talent of the communities the university serves.
In doing so, the center honors both Carnegie Mellon’s heritage and its responsibility — to lead boldly, to collaborate deeply and to ensure that technological progress advances the public good.
