Infrastructure is one of the great accomplishments of human civilization. Early standout examples include the Roman road network and aqueducts and the even earlier sanitation systems of the Indus Valley Civilization. Modern life would be completely impossible without the extensive infrastructure which we now often take for granted, such as the electricity grid.

To advance from here, we face a dual challenge: we need to construct new infrastructure, such as massive solar arrays, and we need to maintain the existing infrastructure, much of which is crumbling. As Stewart Brand beautifully captured it in his most recent book The Maintenance of Everything, maintenance is a civilizational challenge.

Thankfully, we are in the midst of a robotics revolution. Robots are going from highly repetitive tasks in precisely controlled factory environments to being useful in complex outdoor conditions where most of our infrastructure lives.

We are excited to announce our investment in Gritt, which is pursuing the infrastructure robotics challenge, starting with the build-out of grid-scale solar arrays. Gritt has already deployed their robots in the construction of tens of megawatts (a number that grows by the day) and is currently contracted for another 2.8 gigawatts with leading US contractors. Co-founders Puneet Puri and Vishal Dugar’s vision for Gritt is to build the world’s infrastructure. You can read more about their plans for Gritt on their blog. Gritt is hiring!