Luminous gets funding to bring LUMI solar construction robot to Australia

The LUMI robot is designed to automate solar panel installation without changing workflows. Source: Luminous Robotics

While federal funding for solar projects may be uncertain in the U.S., interest in robotics to support construction is growing worldwide. Luminous Robotics Inc. today said it has been chosen as the first project to receive funding from the Australian government’s $100 million Solar Scaleup Challenge.

“We’ve been working on this for the past 10 months,” said Jay M. Wong, CEO of Luminous. “We’ve set up an entity and a warehouse over there and can do assembly and testing. We’ve also onboarded a general manager who’s talking to local machine shops and hiring deployment technicians and engineers.”

Founded in 2023, Luminous has developed LUMI, a robot that can pick up solar panels and place them for securing onto racks. The Boston-based startup has received $4.8 million from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).

Luminous directly addresses industry challenges

LUMI uses artificial intelligence and can help existing workforces to install 80 lb. (36.2 kg) solar panels up to 3.5 times faster, without any heavy lifting or workflow changes, said Luminous. This is a task that typically takes up to five people, often in high winds or hot weather.

“We did market research for the first six months after incorporation in August 2023,” recalled Wong. “People have been trying to automate solar installation for a decade, but there has been no mass adoption yet. Some companies may be better capitalized than others, but a lot has to do with focus. Solar people have been trying to build robotics companies, and robotics people have been trying to build solar companies.”

“We have a deep appreciation for the pain that the industry is trying to solve,” he told The Robot Report. “We don’t really care what the robot is. We’re not a technology company; we’re a company that solves problems.”

Wong said he wrote all the code for LUMI v1, which went from a concept to a robot in the field in 10 weeks. Luminous first tested its photovoltaic (PV) panel installer at a site in Virginia serving 1,300 customers.

The startup soon moved from wheels to a tracked iteration with a larger battery. Luminous sources robot arms and a chassis from partners and does all its assembly and testing in-house at a warehouse in Boston.

“We’ve built the most flexible solution in the industry for solar construction,” asserted Wong. “No other robot can pick up solar panels from front or back, which is an important enabler for inserting it into any construction process. The industry revolves around risk mitigation — keeping build projects on schedule without introducing a single source of massive risk. We’re not altering how you pick panels off pallets or trucks.”

“We’re now on Version 4, which is in limited production,” he said. “We’ve made it nimbler and are working to make things more modular, designing for manufacturing at scale. We’re starting to ship out LUMI across the U.S. and Australia.”

LUMI augments human workers in solar PV installation. Source: Luminous Robotics

LUMI to help set up Australian solar farms

Luminous said LUMI can enhance productivity and safety on Australian solar farms. While the system has already demonstrated cost reductions on solar farms in the U.S., the company said the ARENA project marks its first global deployment of a full fleet of five mobile manipulators, which could reduce solar farm costs by up to 6.2% over their lifetime.

Luminous has partnered with Equans, a global engineering, procurement, and construction firm, to deploy LUMI at two Australian solar farms — the 440MW Neoen Culcairn Solar Farm in New South Wales and the 250MW Engie Goorambat East Solar Farm in Victoria.

“Equans reached out to us last year and brought us in touch with ARENA,” said Wong. “We had to be sure it would be worthwhile to ship the product and have the support infrastructure. While there was a steep learning curve around regulations and other things, the Solar Scaleup Challenge was a great way to get into the Australian market. We’re flying out there this weekend.”

LUMI will also collect site and installation data to further refine its design and optimize performance for significant cost reductions in solar panel installation.

“Deploying our LUMI fleet in Australia will allow us to capture the data, performance insights, and real-world impact needed to drive global adoption—the kind of scale and transformation we founded Luminous to achieve,” said Wong.

ARENA invests in Luminous for low-cost power

The LUMI project continues ARENA’s support of Australian innovation in the solar PV industry. ARENA programs have provided more than $290 million to around 300 solar research and development projects since 2012.

“ARENA has set an ambitious goal to reduce the installed cost of solar to 30 cents per watt and bring the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) below $20 per megawatt hour,” stated Daren Miller, CEO of ARENA. “These are important targets, because at this cost solar will form the foundation for Australia’s renewable energy ‘superpower’ future.” 

“To achieve net zero, Australia will need immense amounts of solar power at ultra-low cost,” he added. “We’ve already proven our ability to manufacture advanced technologies. It’s now time to apply that capability to solar PV, a cornerstone of the nation’s clean energy future.”

“Collaboration with companies like Luminous is key to reducing costs and maintaining Australia’s leading role in the development and innovation of solar technologies,” he added. “We are aiming to bring together leaders across Australia and the world to tackle the challenges presented in our quest for even cheaper renewable energy through this critical technology.”

LUMI can safely and efficiently pick up solar panels from pallets for placement on racks. Source: Luminous Robotics

Massachusetts provides climate for innovation

Luminous is a member of MassRobotics and was recently named a finalist in the 2025 Eddie awards, which recognize innovators in Massachusetts.

“We’ve had a lot of support from the local ecosystem and the state, including from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center,” said Wong. “I learned from Southie Autonomy to be cost-efficient. We’ve been onboarding two to three people nearly every week, and we have about 12 FTEs [full-time equivalents] and five contractors.”

How is Luminous navigating changes in U.S. funding for renewable energy?

“The TAM [total addressable market] for ‘super human’ manual work is massive, at $15 trillion, and outside the capacity of immediate human scope,” said Wong. “The federal budget will affect tax credits for construction, which will hit residential markets hardest. It’s driving a frenzy to start construction immediately, particularly on the utility side.”

“But solar is still the lowest cost of energy by any source, and as AI data centers demand immediate generation for energy-intensive infrastructures, solar is still the quickest to set up,” he noted. “I’m still bullish on the industry in the U.S., and even more so globally.”

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