BladeRanger was founded in December 2015 by Assaf Friedler, Professor Gal Kaminka, a world leader in AI and robotics from Bar Ilan University, and robotics company Cogniteam.

The company develops unique technology for the autonomous cleaning and inspection of photovoltaic solar panels.

One of the main challenges facing electricity generation from solar panels is to generate the maximum amount of electricity from the panels relative to the amount of sunshine the panels absorb. Increasing the efficiency of electricity generation has economic implications in terms of the feasibility of installation of solar panels and the amount of power they generate. The company addresses this challenge head on by cleaning the panels with the autonomous robots it has developed.

The first product developed by the company is PLECO, a robot powered by a rechargeable battery that performs waterless cleaning of rows of solar panels. The autonomous robot is able to cross gaps of approx. 10 cm as it moves across rows of panels to cover an area of approx. 3,200 sqm on each recharge.

PLECO’s uniqueness lies in its AI capabilities which enable it to identify faults, map out panels, and provide output on cleaning progress, while also serving as an IoT (Internet of Things) unit, backed up by a cloud-based service for improving solar installation maintenance.

The solutions developed by the company are tailored to work on flat as well as sloped installations, and to do so under extreme weather conditions, resulting in a significant reduction in the cleaning and maintenance costs of solar power installations.