Utility-scale solar farms can stretch across hundreds or thousands of acres, requiring construction crews to move, lift and position large numbers of photovoltaic modules before the projects can begin generating electricity.

Gritt is trying to automate part of that process.

The construction technology company has developed an AI-powered robotics system that attaches to conventional jobsite equipment and performs repetitive physical tasks. Solar is its first major market, with Gritt initially focusing on moving and positioning modules during the construction of large solar farms.

The approach comes as solar construction is expanding rapidly in the United States. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said developers planned to add 43.4 gigawatts of utility-scale solar capacity in 2026, up 60 percent from the capacity added in 2025 if all planned projects are completed. The estimate comes from EIA's Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory and measures planned generating capacity rather than completed installations.

Instead of designing an entirely new construction vehicle, Gritt combines robotic arms, sensors and AI software with machinery already used on construction sites.

TechCrunch reported that the company has used rented construction equipment together with commercially available robotic arms. The system can unload solar modules, transport them toward mounting structures and position them so workers can secure them in place.

That distinction is central to Gritt's model. The company is attempting to make existing equipment more autonomous rather than requiring contractors to replace their machinery with highly specialized robots.

The U.S. Department of Energy recognized the approach in 2024 when Gritt Robotics became one of two grand-prize winners of the American-Made Solar Prize Round 7. DOE described Gritt's technology as combining robotics and artificial intelligence to convert off-the-shelf construction equipment into intelligent machines for utility-scale solar construction. Each Round 7 winner received $500,000 in cash and $75,000 in technical-support vouchers.

Installing modules involves physical work repeated across enormous sites. Adam Bernardi, renewables business line director at Burns & McDonnell, told pv magazine that solar construction can involve workers repeatedly lifting modules weighing around 80 pounds.

Gritt's system targets that kind of work.

Rather than eliminating the crew altogether, its current solar workflow divides the process between machines and people. The robotic system handles tasks such as moving and precisely positioning modules, while workers can complete parts of the installation that remain better suited to human labor.

Gritt says its technology can also be adapted to other construction activities, including assembly and material transport. Its longer-term development plans extend into tasks such as building solar racking, fastening components and working with concrete and rebar.

The technology has progressed beyond laboratory demonstrations.

In August 2026, engineering and construction firm Burns & McDonnell announced a strategic partnership with Gritt after the companies spent roughly a year evaluating the robotics technology on active utility-scale solar sites. The partnership is focused on deploying the technology while examining its effects on safety, labor requirements and project predictability.

Gritt currently reports that its machines have installed more than 35,000 solar panels representing more than 18 megawatts of solar capacity. It also says it has 2.8 gigawatts of solar construction under contract. Those figures are company-reported operating metrics. The 2.8-gigawatt figure represents contracted future work and should not be interpreted as capacity already installed by Gritt's machines.

The company also says engineering, procurement and construction contractors using its systems have reported productivity around four times that of conventional installation workflows. TechCrunch separately reported Gritt CEO Puneet Puri's estimate that an eight-person crew that might normally install around 800 modules per day could install roughly 3,000 to 4,000 with the company's systems. These are company-reported performance figures rather than an independent industry benchmark, and actual productivity can vary with project design, terrain, equipment and site conditions.

Automating a solar farm presents a different challenge from automating a factory.

Industrial robots typically operate in highly controlled environments where objects, machinery and workstations remain in predictable locations. Construction sites change constantly. Ground conditions vary, machinery moves, weather changes and the position of materials can shift throughout the day.

Gritt is developing its AI specifically for these conditions. During the Burns & McDonnell trials, the system was tested across active projects where it had to operate with changing terrain, weather and site logistics.

Gritt's July 2026 video The AI Building The World's Infrastructure provides a closer look at this approach, including footage of its robotics systems and an explanation from the company's engineers of why outdoor construction is more difficult to automate than controlled industrial environments.

The pressure to improve installation productivity is likely to grow with the industry.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment of solar photovoltaic installers to increase rapidly over the next decade. Its Employment Projections program estimates 42.1 percent growth between 2024 and 2034, compared with 3.1 percent for all occupations in the projection set. The figures cover the solar photovoltaic installer occupation broadly and are not limited to workers on utility-scale projects.

Gritt's strategy is not simply to replace that growing workforce. Its technology is aimed at increasing how much construction existing crews can accomplish while shifting some repetitive lifting and positioning work to machines.

That makes utility-scale solar a practical proving ground for construction robotics. Solar farms contain thousands of similar components and repeated installation steps, but the work still happens in unpredictable outdoor environments. If Gritt can reliably automate those tasks across different projects, it could demonstrate how robotics designed for factories can evolve into machines capable of working alongside construction crews in the field.