Rosendin Electric develops autonomous robot to simplify solar farm construction

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. (KABC) -- An Orange County company is using an autonomous robotic system to install solar panels. The company says the technology isn't taking away jobs, and instead, is filling gaps in a labor shortage.

Generally, a solar farm is built on about 10 acres of unshaded land in direct sunlight, and construction takes about a year. Finding a willing workforce is no easy task, given the difficulties of the job.

Rosendin Electric in Orange County, however, is using an autonomous robotic system to install solar panels at a solar farm. They say the technology is not taking away jobs, but rather, it's filling gaps in a labor shortage when it comes to hard labor in harsh weather.

"On an average day, a two-person crew carrying a module would walk over four miles by going 40 feet to pick up a module, carry it over, and install it," explained David Lincoln, the senior vice president of Rosendin Electric.

Hoping to improve solar panel installation, Lincoln helped develop an autonomous robotic system, which is now on display near Abilene, Texas.

Five electricians work with a panel-setting robotic arm, which has vacuum suction cups and two panel-carrying robots. The robotic components all work in tandem to create a faster, safer, and more cost-effective solar farm construction.

"I'm constantly blown away that this is something I thought of, sketched it out on a napkin, and it came to fruition," Lincoln said. "Every time I see this thing working, and I get feedback from people in the field about it, it's a pretty good feeling."

It takes half the workforce to install almost the same number of panels per day using the autonomous robotic system.

The modules go back and forth to a central location to transport solar panels, and the robotic arm drops the panel in place within 2 millimeters using GPS technology. The effectiveness of the robotic arm is shocking, given that it has been tested on panels of various dimensions.

"We took 100 modules that the robot installed, and we had them tested by three different agencies, and they came back 100% -- no micro-fractures, no nothing on them," Lincoln said.

He adds that the autonomous robotic system isn't taking away jobs. It's actually creating a new type of job in programming and repair, and it's making installation safer for those who, in the past, had to carry the panels themselves.

"It's not that they can't do the work, but we have other things that they can do, which is probably what they really want to do [rather] than to pick up 85-pound modules at 120 degrees in the middle of Texas and go install millions of these. They'd rather work on something else," Lincoln said.

For now, the system is a working prototype, but Rosendin has begun taking offers to sell the design so it can be manufactured and delivered to others in the renewable industry.