Maximo robots install solar modules almost twice as fast as humans.

An installation robot from US solar robotics company Maximo, a subsidiary of AES Corporation, has, together with humans, built a 100 MW solar park at the AES power plant site in Bellefield, California. The robot installed solar modules with technicians almost twice as fast per shift hour and person as humans can do it alone.

Maximo's installation robots move between individual solar module rows using an eight-wheeled tracked drive. A robot arm picks up the carried solar modules and places them with millimeter precision on the already pre-assembled module mounts, so they can be directly screwed on. The robot also does this independently using image processing and artificial intelligence (AI).

For the construction of the solar park, Maximo used a total of four installation robots in version 3.0, which, together with experienced technicians, assembled the solar modules. The upcoming version 4.0, which will also incorporate the experiences from the field test, is already in development.

High installation speed

The teams of humans and robots installed up to 24 solar modules per shift hour and person. This is almost twice as fast as human teams managed with conventional installation methods, according to Maximo.

The robots were developed, tested, and optimized using AI technology and infrastructure from Nvidia. For example, Nvidia Omniverse libraries and the Nvidia Isaac Sim simulation framework were used to test robot functions in physics-based simulations before practical field deployment. Maximo states that the combination of AI, image processing, robotics, and simulation-assisted development has significantly reduced development and validation times.

Maximo also utilized Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the development, deployment, and operation of the robot's AI-controlled field systems to capture, analyze, and optimize robot operational data.

For Maximo, the use of robotics in solar module installation shows that robots can reliably function in the construction of utility-scale solar parks today, providing savings through high installation speeds and increasing safety for technicians.

(olb)