Congratulations Banks and Max, this is excellent! -Dane
Dane! Good to hear from you, and thanks!
Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
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Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#12Since you say it's a risk averse sector. Do you think you will need to do the entire process (building the solar farm) or do you expect that companies that build solar farms will hire your robots for part of the process? Or are you aiming for an acquisition?
We're operating as a subcontractor for existing large construction firms, where we come in and do the mechanical construction step.
In general robotics companies need to pick between "sell robots" or "operate robots as a service", and we've picked the latter model. Personally I think that throwing robots over the fence to a customer typically results in more headaches on both sides. Instead, we deliver mechanically assembled solar farms to construction companies, and they don't need to worry about how we got there - just that we did it quickly, efficiently, and spared them the staffing logistics.
Re:acquisition, we believe we can become a significantly profitable company operating independently. If we can become the best way of building solar, we'll be in a great position to sell services to all of the existing large solar construction companies.
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#13Automation + Solar two of my favourite things, honestly! Congrats on getting this far. Have you considered, or have views on, the scope for using telerobotics in this field as a step to full automation? Point being the qualified labour could be anywhere in the world for a particular job and the data generated from that could be used towards the drive for full automation.
Teleoperation is on our radar, especially for getting robots un-stuck when they are confused about a particular situation. Our vision is that a single remote operator can monitor an entire fleet of robots, stepping in to resolve confusing situations as necessary. We've seen this model deployed at other robotics companies like Third Wave Automation [1] and Teleo [2].
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#14This is awesome! That [location redacted] video is very cool.
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#15Is labor cost a significant obstacle to building solar farms? What % of initial capital goes to labor?
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#16Is labor cost a significant obstacle to building solar farms? What % of initial capital goes to labor?
This is the real question
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#17Is labor cost a significant obstacle to building solar farms? What % of initial capital goes to labor?
From my experience the biggest cost other than Panels and copper wire is the framing and structural infrastructure. Building codes, wind loads, etc. make it so its not as simple as propping up a few panels and plugging them in. It's significant and also cost inefficient in many ways.
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#18Amazing. Almost makes me want to move to the states (from NZ) to work with you. Always gratifying to see a job posting where you tick every box.
What a great automation environment! Almost clean-slate too, you don't need to integrate with a patchwork of other solutions that are different per site.
Robots as a service is definitely the way to go. Much lower apparent risk for your clients, less support costs for out of date product you sold early on... many great reasons.
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#19Is labor cost a significant obstacle to building solar farms? What % of initial capital goes to labor?
Not really from what I’ve seen. There’s a rabbit hole of research reports, but the key chart is shown here: https://www.solarreviews.com/blog/what-is-a-solar-farm-do-i-...
Maybe 10-15% of total cost depending on install type.
Re: Launch HN: Charge Robotics (YC S21) - Robots that build solar farms
#20Aside from labor replacement and the implied capital efficiency, are there other benefits automation can bring to solar installations?