Q2 2026 Highlights

What's New

• WBUR Festival & CNN: WBUR reporter Barbara Moran invited Joey to be a part of her climate tech panel at WBUR Fest in May. Joey spoke as an early stage startup, while Ted Wiley of Form Energy sat in for more mature ventures, and MassCEC’s incoming CEO Ben Downing spoke for the Commonwealth’s efforts. If you’re in Boston next spring, WBUR Fest is an expansive event, featuring a range of incredible speakers from Chef Jose Andre to arch-Neocon John Bolton. Likewise, if you haven’t caught the original Morning Edition story featuring us, both the audio and an expanded print story are available here. Finally- keep your eyes peeled for a related CNN story…
• Market Opportunities: With political shifts in the federal cleantech support, we’ve been heads down with advisors identifying the optimal non-Defense market for the Roav.

Residential Pilots are Underway

• The Roav 1.0 prototype is currently undergoing its first residential pilots, where it’s deployed and operating as an alternative to rooftop solar in Sutton, MA.
• This testing includes a series of multi-week installations, where we’re testing the Roav’s electromechanical system for performance, peak-summer heat and thunderstorm exposure, and (cycle testing).
• For background, when Joey and Sam Fiore originally built the first few prototypes for a retractable solar array, people kept asking if they could have one for their yard, as an alternative to rooftop solar. Between the IDEA Venture Accelerator at Northeastern, and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program, we found that there’s substantial unmet demand among homeowners.
• Across an interview of 100 suburban and rural homeowners, many of whom were actively interested in having home solar, they haven’t had an install yet for a handful of key reasons: half of interviewees simply dislike the way it looks on a roof; 1/4 are planning to get solar, but plan to move soon and so are waiting; and for many others, their roof simply isn’t an option, because of its age, orientation versus the sun, or limitations in surface area and geometry.
• When interviewees were presented with the Roav as an alternative, a substantial number of interviewees were seriously interested. The ability to take the Roav with them from one property to another, avoiding that roof entirely, with it’s affect on curb appeal and limitations, the Roav’s smart, whole-home backup power, and the cost efficiency of solar combined with battery backup, a hybrid backup generator, and EV charger in one, were all factors that have homeowners interested.

Product and Engineering Updates

• Electromechanical Engineer Isaac Hamlin has been working to further refine designs for Roav’s exterior body. For context, the form factor you see on our prototype is pared back from the full body enclosure the production version will feature, for ease of testing. Actually, the entire Roav platform is designed to be hyper modular- with the chassis and frame designed so that the exterior body is modularly affixed to the frame. More specifically, it’s designed so that a range of different bodies can be affixed to the same frame, accommodating different function and form factors for different use cases. This is similar to how the automotive industry will utilize the same chassis for multiple model vehicles (think Toyota ____ or Tesla Models 3 and Y).
• Software lead Stefan Forsberg has brought several new features online. In addition to an app UI refresh, the app is now multi-unit capable: so users are now able to operate, and collect data, from multiple Roav units. So if, for example, a town had a fleet of Roavs set up in a field or a parking lot, they can program the entire fleet to operate together instead of 1 by 1.
• Forecasting feature: Using AI trained with historical weather data, this feature now displays in the app with an estimated solar production for each day.

Looking ahead of Q2 and beyond

• Roav Pre-Orders: We’ve had pre-orders coming in from homeowners for the initial production units, and to be a part of Roav’s beta testing. There’s still slots available if you’re interested, or even just want to get your name on the pre-order list here.
• Our first fundraise: We’re officially moving forward with our inaugural fundraise, and have been working with advisors to prepare for meeting with angel and institutional investors. More to come on this soon.
• Roav Demos this Fall: While we’re preparing to manufacture the first production units, we’ll keep the 1.0 Roav prototype busy in the field. The Roav will be continuing residential pilots with homeowners, where we can continue testing against inclement weather, and prolonged wear and tear. We’ll likely also pull Roav away for some fun public demonstrations, so keep your eyes peeled for updates on where we’ll be.