☀️ Solar Robotics Newsletter

September 13, 2026

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Hello solar robotics enthusiasts!

Welcome to this week's Solar Robotics Newsletter, produced by Straylight Ventures, where we cover the latest in robotics, automation, and AI transforming utility-scale solar. This week: Procore completes its acquisition of DroneDeploy and closes out the Rocos exit, BotCrew opens a West Coast deployment hub in San Francisco, and Above and Nottingham Trent University test quadruped robots for solar farm inspection.

• Procore completed its acquisition of DroneDeploy, closing out the exit for Rocos shareholders who rolled into DroneDeploy after its 2021 sale.
• BotCrew is opening a West Coast deployment and service hub in San Francisco to support its Gravion robot rollout.
• Above and Nottingham Trent University tested quadruped robots for autonomous inspection at a solar farm as part of a feasibility study.
• Gritt trained one of its robots to tie rebar for a data center customer in two days, reusing its existing perception and simulation stack.
• Planted Solar CEO Eric Brown discussed vertically integrating design software, the solar array, and installation robots.
• Swap Robotics launched an updated website ahead of a planned Series A round.
• Jayming Wong will speak on two robotics and energy panels over the next week, including Startup Boston Week, and the AWS Energy Symposium.

🌟 Industry Spotlight

Procore completes acquisition of DroneDeploy, closing the Rocos exit

Procore completed its acquisition of DroneDeploy today. The deal also closes out the exit for shareholders of Rocos, the robotics company DroneDeploy acquired in 2021, who held onto their shares through the acquisition until this transaction.

Rocos co-founder David Inggs said the team is joining Procore to bring automated data capture with robotics to the built world, calling it the start of a new phase for the business.

→ Read more​

🔧 Project Deployments

BotCrew opens a West Coast deployment and service hub in San Francisco

BotCrew is opening a deployment and service hub in San Francisco to support its Gravion robot on the West Coast. The company ships a robot anywhere in the continental US, puts it into a customer's workflow for two days at no cost, and sends a field technician to deliver it, train the crew, and handle service without a pre-staging or integration project.

In a recent deployment, BotCrew used hydraulically powered, self-loading trailers to pick up cable spools without a separate loader and operator. The company says this repeatable process, not just the robot itself, is what has driven millions in recurring revenue and repeat work with major contractors.

→ Watch the video​

🏗️ In the Field

Above and Nottingham Trent University test quadruped robots for solar farm inspection

Above has joined a feasibility study with Nottingham Trent University testing quadruped robots at a solar farm, building on earlier work exploring autonomous inspection. The team found solar farms are a good fit for autonomous mobile robots because they are fenced, access is controlled, and the layout is fixed.

Beyond inspection, the team identified potential uses in site security, carrying tools and parts for engineers, guiding visitors, and supporting lone-worker safety. The project is part funded by the Mayor of the East Midlands and the East Midlands Combined County Authority.

→ Read the post​

🤖 AI & Automation

Gritt trains a robot for a new rebar-tying task in two days

A data center customer asked Gritt for help tying rebar. The company equipped one of its robots with a rebar gun and trained it using the same perception stack, simulation pipeline, and foundational AI it built for solar work, without a multi-month hardware development cycle.

Gritt CEO Puneet Puri discussed the story on the Dirty Jobs podcast with Jay Kapoor, framing it as evidence for a generalizable construction intelligence that can adapt across infrastructure projects rather than a purpose-built machine for each task.

→ Watch the clip​

🎙️ Industry Voices

Planted Solar's Eric Brown on vertically integrating software, array, and robots

Planted Solar CEO Eric Brown said the company's vertical integration extends past the supply chain to include its design software, the solar array, and the robots that install it, built to work as one system. That means a decision made in the software shows up directly in what gets installed on site.

→ Watch the video​

Open Roles

Civ Robotics is hiring across several teams. → View open roles​

Vector Machines: Lead Robotics Software Engineer, Localization & Navigation (Heerenveen, Netherlands). → View the vacancy​

Xpanner: Geospatial Support Manager (Remote, Australia). → View the listing​

Also Worth a Look

Gritt is hosting a robotics happy hour in Pittsburgh on September 28 during IROS 2026. → RSVP​

Luminous CEO, Jay Wong will speak on two robotics and energy panels over the next week: "Built to Ship" at Startup Boston Week on September 15, and the Physical AI Executive Panel at the AWS Energy Symposium in Houston on September 17. → Read the post​

TALOS published training material on its land-based PV use case at the Cruz del Hierro hybrid plant in Spain, covering autonomous UAV inspection and ground-based cleaning and mowing robots. → Download the training material​

Areg.AI showed how a single mission created in its platform dispatches Mowbot and Sobot to handle mowing and inspection autonomously. → Watch the video​

SUNPURE showed a batch of Saturn Module Fitting Robots leaving its factory for solar projects around the world. → Watch the video​

Keep building the future.

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