SOL: A Compact, Portable, Telescopic, Soft-Robotic Sun-Tracking Mechanism for Improved Solar Power Production

Solar power is becoming an increasingly popular option for energy production in commercial and private applications. While installing solar panels (photovoltaic cells) in a stationary configuration is simple and inexpensive, such a setup fails to maximise their potential solar energy production. Single- and dual-axis sun trackers automatically adjust the tilt angle of photovoltaic cells so as to directly face towards sun, but these also come with their own drawbacks such as increased cost and weight. This paper presents SOL, a soft-robotic, dual-axis, sun-tracking mechanism for improved solar panel efficiency. The proposed design was built to be compact, portable, and lightweight, and it utilises closed-loop control for the intelligent actuation of a set of soft telescopic structures that raise and tilt the solar panels in the direction of the sun. The performance of the proposed solar tracking platform was experimentally validated in terms of its maximum elevation at different azimuths and its ability to balance different loads. The result is a device that provides solar panel users with an accessible, affordable, and convenient means of increasing the efficiency of their solar energy system.