Four-legged robots are expected to trot through Downtown Detroit soon as part of a public testing phase planned by Bedrock and Boston Dynamics, the companies behind a plan to eventually deploy a full fleet of robot dogs across the city. The pilot marks one of the first real-world tryouts of Boston Dynamics' commercial litter-pickup capability anywhere in the country, with the robots expected to begin picking up trash on downtown streets as soon as next week.
The initiative, aimed at turning Detroit into a proving ground for next-generation urban technology, was detailed by FOX 2 Detroit, which reported that Bedrock Detroit has partnered with Boston Dynamics to bring the company's Spot platform into the city's public spaces. Kevin Mull, Bedrock Detroit's senior director for the Office of Urban Strategy, described the robot dog program to the station as an “autonomous mobile sensing platform,” and said preparation for the project has continued for six to eight months. Mull used a different robot, named Astro, as a stand-in to describe the program, noting that Astro is a separate platform from the actual robot dogs Bedrock plans to use.
According to the station's report, Spot units could be used for building inspections, security patrols in parking garages, mapping hard-to-reach areas, and traveling to places unsafe for people. The robots could also handle package deliveries, including carrying a package from a rooftop into a building, and are built to navigate human-designed spaces — climbing stairs and moving through doors.
Litter Pickup Could Be a Detroit First
Perhaps the most eye-catching piece of the pilot: a robot dog fitted with a robotic arm that could pick up litter and cigarette butts from downtown sidewalks. Per Mull, Boston Dynamics is testing litter pickup in Detroit as one of the first places in the country trying out that specific use case, and the station's report notes that this solution isn't yet available on the broader commercial market. Bedrock plans to test litter pickup downtown starting next Wednesday, October 14.
The company is also testing robots for floor cleaning and ground-based package delivery, the outlet reported, with the current program remaining in a testing phase that will include additional oversight for several more months. If the pilot goes well, Mull said the robot dog program would move toward deployment in a live environment — and per his account, Downtown Detroit is likely to be the first location where Boston Dynamics' Spot platform is deployed commercially, even though the company is working with many other customers nationwide.
Bedrock's Track Record as an Urban Testbed
This isn't Bedrock's first experiment turning its Detroit properties into a laboratory for emerging technology. The developer's Office of Urban Strategy and Innovation has previously launched testbeds including the Detroit Smart Parking Lab, established in 2021 alongside Bosch, Ford, and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and the Urban Tech Xchange, according to SBN Detroit. In July 2025, that same Urban Tech Xchange hosted a trial of an autonomous food waste collection robot that transported organic waste from downtown restaurants like San Morello for composting, the outlet reported.
Detroit's robot dog trial also lands in a city already positioning itself as a mobility and robotics hub. Ford's roughly $740 million to $1 billion investment revitalized the 30-acre Michigan Central innovation district, which now anchors more than 80 mobility and robotics startups at Newlab Detroit, according to the Michigan Central District. Bedrock's own downtown footprint continues to grow alongside that tech push: the company completed the 12-story office component of Hudson's Detroit in late 2025, while its plans call for a 45-story tower on Woodward Avenue to house an EDITION hotel; GM's relocated headquarters is planned for the 12-story building, Hoodline previously reported.
Not Bedrock's First Robot Dog Rollout
Detroit isn't the only city where robot dogs have appeared. In Cleveland, Hoodline reported on robot dogs guarding a riverfront construction site; the robots had been in use in the area for about a year. Bedrock's Cuyahoga Riverfront master plan spans 35 acres and is valued at $3.5 billion, Hoodline reported. Metro Detroit also has its own local precedent: in March 2024, the Taylor Police Department in Wayne County became the first Michigan law enforcement agency to deploy a quadruped robot, leasing a RADDOG 2LE unit for $35,000 annually to assist with high-risk incident de-escalation.
A single Spot unit weighs between roughly 32.7 and 33.8 kilograms with its battery, carries a maximum payload of about 14 kilograms, runs for around 90 minutes per charge, and carries an IP54 weather-protection rating, per specifications published by Boston Dynamics. Commercially, base Spot packages start around $75,000, while enterprise configurations with a robotic arm, 3D LiDAR sensors, and fleet management software can run between $120,000 and $375,000, according to the Robotics Center Blog — a cost range that raises open questions about how quickly a downtown pilot could scale into a permanent, citywide fleet.
Boston Dynamics' Spot Platform
Boston Dynamics is pushing its Spot platform from research prototype toward broader commercial deployment, with Detroit positioned as an early test site.
Public deployments of robot dogs have not always gone smoothly elsewhere. In 2021, the New York Police Department ended its use of a similar Boston Dynamics robot, nicknamed “Digidog,” after widespread community pushback over privacy and surveillance concerns, according to the UCLA Law Review.
