Photo courtesy Built Robotics
Built Robotics’ autonomous solar piledriving excavators can work 24 hours a day if needed.
Looking to capitalize on a high volume of solar energy construction underway and make up for labor shortages in remote locations, Quanta Services subsidiary and utility-scale EPC contractor Blattner announced Sept. 9 it will use Built Robotics’ autonomous pile driving robots for solar installations.
The robots, which consist of converted hydraulic excavators with vibratory piledriving attachments, are able to pick up and drive the large piles that serve as support piers for the foundations of solar panel arrays. The installation is one of the more onerous and dangerous tasks in solar energy installations, given uncertain ground conditions and the highly repetitious nature of the work.
The autonomous excavators feature onboard carrying capacity for the steel piles, and can install them unaided 24/7 as long as the machines are resupplied and refueled. They feature onboard sensors to orient themselves and detect nearby humans for safe operation. For each installation, two autonomous excavators work in tandem with one positioning the pile and the other driving it in.
“We’ve been able to get 2.5 times more done in a week [than traditional methods] with the robot running 24 hours a day on some projects,” says Built Robotics CEO Noah Ready-Campbell. “So if we can do that, why not adjust the schedule to reflect that? Normally you start a project and everything is aligned on the schedule in this construction ballet, but if one crew gets behind, it all falls apart. Now if one part is lagging, we have the ability to accelerate when needed and run this robot crew 24 hours if needed.”
Built Robotics, which focuses on aftermarket installation of autonomous control systems on heavy construction equipment, offers packages to convert hydraulic excavators and other machines over to full robotic control for repetitive tasks such as trenching. The solar pile-driving package was first introduced in 2023, and has seen use by contractors across the U.S. including Blattner, but this deal will be the first large-scale deployment.
“Right now we’re deploying on our fourth project with Blattner, but this is a nationwide deal, and [it] also will be using [the robots] on projects in Canada as well,” says Ready-Campbell. Most of the solar installations will be in the Sun Belt (Texas, Arizona, California, Florida), he says, and Blattner will use dozens of the pile-driving robots.
“Our work with Built allows us to remove the risks of pile driving to team members onsite while also maintaining and even improving quality, accelerating project schedules and delivering certainty to our clients,” said Brandon Buski, vice president for solar at Blattner, in a statement announcing the deal. The firm was acquired by Quanta Services in 2021 for a final price of about $2.7 billion.
As some tasks get automated and more workers are removed further from harm’s way, Ready-Campbell says there are opportunities to rethink projects to reflect these new robotic capabilities. “It’s been exciting, talking about how we can redesign the foundations themselves,” he says. “You can use heavier piles with these robots. 500 lb is about the maximum humans can handle, but the robot can go to 5,000 lb, to 8,000lb—if we can go to heavier piers, it could be more efficient.”
But Ready-Campbell adds that if you want to bring robotic processes to construction, you need to listen to the people on site who do the building. “We always try to remember we have to learn from the people who have been doing this for a long time,” he says. “We need to fit into the existing processes, and remember another crew is coming behind us, so we need to leave a quality product for them to build on.”
Jeff Rubenstone is Deputy Editor for News and Technology at the Engineering News-Record. As news director of ENR he oversees the publication’s news coverage, and also covers emerging technologies and innovations in the construction space. With well over a decade of experience reporting on the industry, Jeff has a broad background in engineering and construction journalism. He is based in New York City.
https://www.enr.com/articles/61329-blattner-picks-autonomous-pile-drivers-from-built-robotics-for-solar-projects
