diff --git a/java/robolectric.go b/java/robolectric.go
index b6116ec..2cb0798 100644
--- a/java/robolectric.go
+++ b/java/robolectric.go
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@
 	// The version number of a robolectric prebuilt to use from prebuilts/misc/common/robolectric
 	// instead of the one built from source in external/robolectric-shadows.
 	Robolectric_prebuilt_version *string
+
+	// Use /external/robolectric rather than /external/robolectric-shadows as the version of robolectri
+	// to use.  /external/robolectric closely tracks github's master, and will fully replace /external/robolectric-shadows
+	Upstream *bool
 }
 
 type robolectricTest struct {
@@ -108,7 +112,11 @@
 	if v := String(r.robolectricProperties.Robolectric_prebuilt_version); v != "" {
 		ctx.AddVariationDependencies(nil, libTag, fmt.Sprintf(robolectricPrebuiltLibPattern, v))
 	} else {
-		ctx.AddVariationDependencies(nil, libTag, robolectricCurrentLib)
+		if proptools.Bool(r.robolectricProperties.Upstream) {
+			ctx.AddVariationDependencies(nil, libTag, robolectricCurrentLib+"_upstream")
+		} else {
+			ctx.AddVariationDependencies(nil, libTag, robolectricCurrentLib)
+		}
 	}
 
 	ctx.AddVariationDependencies(nil, libTag, robolectricDefaultLibs...)