Robots just installed 100 MW of solar panels in the desert
Key summary
A fleet of Maximo robots completed installation of 100 megawatts of solar capacity at AES's Bellefield solar complex.
Maximo's Version 3.0 enables installation rates beyond human-only teams; workers can place up to 24 photovoltaic modules per hour and machines assemble more than one panel per minute.
Throughput at Bellefield nearly doubles that of other large-scale photovoltaic sites across Southern California.
Maximo used Nvidia and AWS cloud technologies plus Omniverse and Isaac Sim simulations; the deployment shows industrial AI can accelerate robotics development, shorten development cycles, and improve performance confidence.
Bellefield will eventually exceed 1 gigawatt, is part of a wave of large-scale solar and storage projects across the American Southwest, and the article notes ongoing Middle East conflict and depleted fossil fuel supplies as context.
