Utility-scale solar is racing to meet surging power demand, yet installation bottlenecks, including labour shortages, heavier panels, and inconsistent daily output, are slowing progress. Deise Yumi Asami and the team at AES Corporation are tackling this with Maximo, an AI-powered field robot that automates panel installation, thereby cutting build times while improving safety and deployment certainty.
In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Deise about engineering autonomous robotics for unpredictable outdoor environments. She explains how computer vision replaces fixed programming, how simulation and digital twins accelerated development, and why EPCs value certainty over simple cost savings. The conversation explores scaling hardware inside a Fortune 500 company and reflects on how aligning technical skill with climate impact can accelerate clean energy adoption.
Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.
To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit: https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!
Utility-scale solar is racing to meet surging power demand, yet installation bottlenecks, including labour shortages, heavier panels, and inconsistent daily output, are slowing progress. Deise Yumi Asami and the team at AES Corporation are tackling this with Maximo, an AI-powered field robot that automates panel installation, thereby cutting build times while improving safety and deployment certainty.
In this episode of Hardware to Save a Planet, host Dylan Garrett speaks with Deise about engineering autonomous robotics for unpredictable outdoor environments. She explains how computer vision replaces fixed programming, how simulation and digital twins accelerated development, and why EPCs value certainty over simple cost savings. The conversation explores scaling hardware inside a Fortune 500 company and reflects on how aligning technical skill with climate impact can accelerate clean energy adoption.
What you will learn:
- Why solar installation speed matters for climate impact
- How AI vision enables outdoor robotics at scale
- The labor bottleneck that robotics solves
- How to balance automation with human oversight for efficiency and safety
- The power of simulation-driven development for hardware acceleration
- Why EPCs care more about certainty than cost savings
Deise Yumi Asami is the creator of Maximo, an AI-enabled robotic system designed to revolutionize solar panel installation. With an electrical engineering background and over a decade of experience at AES Corporation as Head of Growth, she developed Maximo within AES Next, the corporation's innovation and investment arm, officially founding the company in 2023. Her work combines expertise in automation, field robotics, and renewable energy to address critical bottlenecks of reducing installation time and increasing certainty of delivery in solar deployment, for engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies.
Hardware to Save a Planet is brought to you by
Synapse. We are a global product development and engineering firm that partners with visionary companies to design, develop, and realize breakthrough hardware and AI-powered innovations that advance climate technologies.
To learn more about Synapse and potential business partnerships we offer outside of the podcast, please visit:
https://www.synapse.com/contact/ to get in touch!
Episode Resources: