Civ Robotics, a construction robotics company, has launched CivNav, a machine-control material distribution system. Powered by AI, CivNav speeds up solar construction by streamlining logistics, efficient pile and pallet placement, and advanced planning and workflow segmentation.
As demand for solar construction continues to surge, projects are often slowed by complex logistics, requiring constant deliveries that result in sites congested with dozens of trucks.
These inefficiencies are compounded by the construction industry’s current 500,000-worker labor shortage. CivNav’s technology arrives at this critical time, streamlining outdated processes to keep the transition to solar on track.
CivNav is designed to be simple and beginner-friendly. To use the system, the operator easily mounts the sensor box on their machine of choice and hops in with the CivNav tablet device in hand.
CivNav works seamlessly with existing equipment; it’s compatible with any skid steer or tele-handler, and has already been installed on Bobcat, Takeuchi, Caterpillar, and John Deere machines in the field.
Once mounted, CivNav guides the operator where to distribute the piles, PV modules, and more. The intuitive interface enables precise placement with up to 2-inch accuracy, ensuring every plan is executed precisely.
When users combine this precise placement with GPS-enabled pile drivers, teams can skip surveying layout altogether. As the use of these GPS-enabled pile drivers increases and solar projects grow in scale, the need to cut out steps like construction staking becomes even more vital. This is another key step toward automation on the job site, helping to bridge the labor gap.
Measuring and tracking worksite performance can be difficult, so CivNav’s AI analytics automatically generates daily reports based on real-time data collected during operation.
Offering detailed insights into productivity, output, hours, distance traveled, and more, managers can better find bottlenecks and continuously optimize workflows as projects progress. This sort of information is critical for better estimating and also driving decision-making on measuring the success of changes.
The CivNav works in tandem with the company’s CivDot+ robots, providing a complete autonomous solution for EPCs with or without GPS on pile drivers.
“Civ Robotics has helped us to layout over 300,000 point locations on 3 different projects with CivDots,” says Jason Field, project executive of BOLDT.
“Once they shared with us the development of CivNav which eliminates the need of physical point layout for pile distribution – we knew we had to try it out. The field team was sold after a week of usage, they asked about using it for other tasks on other machines.”
“We’re seeing really exciting tech entering the industry to solve long-standing inefficiencies,” says Tom Yeshurun, CEO and co-founder of Civ Robotics.
“The most important element for us is to keep it simple and approachable, so everyone on the worksite can benefit from new developments, no matter their experience level. As we continue to build new robotics systems, we ensure innovation and user experience always go hand in hand.”
CivNav is currently available for rent in beta.
