Robots are most effective in laboratories or controlled environments, such as a factory floor. When robots are required to automate tasks outdoors, the range of applications narrows with the number variables encountered. For this reason, construction sites remain labor-intensive locations resistant to robotics.

Solar construction sites may admit more automation than other sorts because of the regularity and essentially two-dimensional aspect of their layouts. Placement of heavy bases and even tracker tubes have been automated to some degree on many utility-scale solar projects for years. A key goal of these implementations is to have robots take over the more arduous tasks of materials transport and repetitive placement in all weather conditions.

More recently, robotics startups have been developing technologies for placing panels and even performing more dexterous finishing tasks. Some of these companies have received significant investment and contracts with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms.

California-based Gritt Robotics focused squarely on large-scale solar construction for its approach to retrofitting commercial construction equipment with computer control featuring AI for improved flexibility and even site management support. Gritt recently announced it has deployed its robotic construction systems at solar job sites run by EPC Burns & McDonnell. In all, the company says it is it’s working with three top-10 solar EPCs to install six million solar panels in the next two years with a capacity of about 2.8 GW.

Puneet Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gritt, told pv magazine USA that large-scale solar sites have been an excellent proving ground for the company’s AI-assisted robotics technology.

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