RE2 Robotics receives $1.9M
Award to fund solar energy automation
Lawrenceville- based tech company RE2 Robotics has received $1.9 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to automate part of the process to install solar panels and accelerate the use of solar energy on the electric grid.
RE2 Robotics, which announced the award Tuesday, will develop a system that uses computer vision, machine learning and robotic arms to help install photovoltaic panels — more commonly known as solar panels — that absorb and convert sunlight into electrical energy.
The technology could speed productivity and improve efficiency, reduce construction costs and bolster worker safety, CEO and president Jorgen Pedersen said in a news release announcing the project.
RE2 has long championed its robots as the solution to jobs that are too dangerous for people to do, like helping clean up after a nuclear power plant explosion or maintain oil and gas lines underwater.
This most recent project, RE2’s first with the Department of Energy, is funded through the DOE’s Solar Energy Technologies Office, which funds early stage research and development for technologies to develop different types of solar power and
the advancement of solar energy overall.
“Our goal is to provide the solar industry with a new resource to expedite construction,” Mr. Pedersen said in a prepared statement. “It is possible that through this innovative robotic concept, solar energy may become more accessible to all.”
The Solar Energy Technologies Office has awarded funding to other Pittsburgh initiatives in the past, including at Carnegie Mellon University, Alcoa and PPG Industries.
RE2 Robotics is no stranger to federal funds. It has received several contracts from the Department of Defense, including with the U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army.
Most recently, it announced $400,000 in funding from the Air Force in January to use its systems to enable existing vehicles to operate as robotic vehicles during clean efforts following an air strike.
In November, RE2 received $1.1 million from the Army to develop a system to help medics remotely assess and extract injured soldiers on the battlefield.
The program, called Autonomous Casualty Extraction, or ACE, includes a robotic arm, an unmanned ground vehicle, tracking software and computer vision tech. Using ACE, a combat medic can remotely and autonomously locate an injured soldier, assess the level of injury and then transport them back to the medic for treatment.
“A combat medic’s duties are extremely dangerous and demanding, and the extraction of injured soldiers in the field puts them directly in harm’s way,” Mr. Pedersen said in November. “True to our mission at RE2, ACE allows combat medics to evaluate and extract casualties from a remote distance, protecting them from harm so that they can continue their essential work.”
In addition to the defense, energy and medical fields, RE2 is working on robotic applications for aviation and has used its 3D-printing tech to make face shields for front-line workers to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.