CrewMate Semi-autonomous Vehicle Completes Field Trial Helping Solar Field Workers Install PV Panels

CrewMate, a semi-autonomous lift-assist vehicle developed by Moog Construction, recently completed a field trial near Niagara Falls, N.Y., demonstrating the machine’s ability to help solar field workers install PV panels. Buffalo, N.Y.-based Montante Solar, which designs, develops, and builds solar projects, orchestrated the field trial with Moog Construction at a solar field atop a closed landfill. The undulating, steep terrain (e.g., 10-percent grade) proved to be a good test of the vehicle’s leveling system and ability to climb and maneuver with workers.

For the field trial, CrewMate repeatedly carried pallets--each loaded with up to 31 large PV panels measuring 93.9 by 51.3 inches--while closely following workers using the machine’s lift assist to pick up each 83-lb. panel and guide it onto the field’s solar module racking. CrewMate followed the installers between solar racks until emptying its pallet of PV panels. CrewMate’s sensors kept it a safe distance from workers and objects. CrewMate’s introduction comes at a time when the investment in solar fields is rapidly growing along with the need for more workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the need for solar PV installers is projected to grow 22 percent until 2032, faster than the average for all occupations.

“CrewMate is an innovation we believe can safely increase productivity and help meet the demand for new solar farms and workers,” said Steven Erck, vice president for Montante Solar. “The PV panels in this field test are among the largest and heaviest installed by crews; CrewMate took the strain out of installation work that’s often done in high temperatures and remote areas.”

Aditya Sharma, business development manager for strategic opportunities at Moog Construction, said, “CrewMate is a ‘cobot’ that enhances how solar workers tackle their job; it increases the work crews can accomplish.”

Within a few minutes of introducing CrewMate, the solar crew understood how to operate its gripper for picking and moving panels. CrewMate also offers the potential to reduce panel breakage and eliminate injuries, sprains and strains from repeatedly lifting and moving PV panels.

“Using CrewMate was super easy; it literally was part of our crew,” said an installer who participated in the field trial. “The machine knows where to go; and when a pallet is empty, you pick up the joystick remote control and steer it to pick up a new load.”

“CrewMate easily integrates with ConOps,” added Dave Grabau, business director for Autonomy and Robotics at Moog Construction. “CrewMate also keeps humans in the loop versus a fully robotic solution. A robot, with higher levels of autonomy, requires greater precision especially when you have ground instability and racking to contend with; cobots like CrewMate reduce complexity.”

This fall, CrewMate will engage in a larger pilot project to help construct a solar field at a new location.

Montante Solar | www.montantesolar.com

Moog Construction | www.moogconstruction.com