☀️ Solar Robotics Newsletter

September 20, 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: Planted raises $31.8 million for its autonomous deployment robot, RoboForce partners with Samsung SDS, Gritt lands on a major climate tech list, LEAPTING heads to Dubai, and Directed Machines ditches GPS for depth cameras.

• Planted raised $31.8 million to build more of its autonomous deployment robot, Sage
• RoboForce partners with Samsung SDS to advance Physical AI in industrial settings
• Gritt named to Congruent Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank's 2026 "50 by 2050" list
• LEAPTING will unveil its Auto-Navigation Forklift Robot in Dubai on September 23
• Directed Machines ditches GPS for depth-camera navigation in its Land Care Robots
• Solar-Lit maps out where automation helps most in PV module installation
• Xpanner speeds up pile driving with its X1 automation across 60+ sites

🌟 Funding & Growth

Planted raises $31.8 million to build more of Sage

Planted raised $31.8 million from Piva Capital, RA Capital Management's Planetary Health fund, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Gigascale Capital, Google, and Khosla Ventures. The round funds production of Sage, the company's next-generation autonomous power deployment robot.

Solar hit a record 664 gigawatts installed globally last year, but CEO Eric Brown says multiyear build cycles are limiting how fast new capacity gets deployed. The new funding expands Planted's robot fleet and the team running it. The company is now 43 people, up from a handful five years ago when it started by mounting a jackhammer on a John Deere tractor.

→ Watch the announcement​

🤝 Partnerships

RoboForce joins Samsung SDS's Physical AI push

RoboForce is collaborating with Samsung SDS as a founding member of TeamREX, contributing its Physical AI-powered robotic workforce technology to a shared effort to make robots useful in demanding industrial environments.

Samsung SDS highlighted RoboForce's role in assessing robotics use cases for Samsung affiliates, part of a broader push toward a practical path to deployment.

→ Read more​

📰 Recognition

Gritt named to the "50 by 2050" list

Gritt was named to the 2026 "50 by 2050" list from Congruent Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank, which recognizes high-growth companies with the potential to drive meaningful carbon reduction by 2050.

→ Read more​

🏗️ Project Deployments

LEAPTING brings automated material handling to Dubai

LEAPTING will officially unveil its Auto-Navigation Forklift Robot (AFR) in Dubai on September 23. The robot is designed for automated material handling in demanding outdoor and industrial environments, including transport, positioning, and load-handling of PV modules and other materials on utility-scale solar projects.

→ Read more​

📡 AI & Automation

Directed Machines swaps GPS for depth cameras

Directed Machines built its Land Care Robots to navigate without GPS, which can be blocked or degraded in structured environments like orchards and solar farms. The robots pair RealSense D455 depth cameras with Raspberry Pi microcontrollers, sampling depth images at 15 frames per second to navigate autonomously with centimeter-level accuracy.

→ Watch the video​

Open Roles

• BotCrew is hiring a Director of Customer Growth to turn successful deployments into long-term fleet partnerships. → View post​
• SUNPURE is hiring. → View post​

Also Worth a Look

• Solar-Lit maps out where equipment can assist and where operator judgment still matters in semi-automated PV module installation. → Watch​
• Xpanner is driving piles faster and shrinking crew size with its X1 Piling automation, deployed across 60+ utility-scale solar construction sites. → Watch​
• Areg AI is deploying its monitoring and optimization platform at Helios 3, a 6.232 MWp solar plant in Armenia, targeting at least 10% more energy production and 15% lower operating costs. → Read more​
• Sunpure will showcase solar robotics at the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, China, September 20-23. → Read more​
• TALOS wraps three years of testing on unattended solar plant operations with a Final Event on September 24 at EDP Headquarters, covering pilot sites in Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands. → Read more​

Keep building the future.

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