Yet another familiar OEM, compact equipment maker Doosan Bobcat, has hitched itself to the annual tech juggernaut that is CES.
The company shared several examples of commercialized products, recent concept products, and innovation advancements that it says demonstrates a significant shift in functionality and capabilities. Among its latest concept updates and introductions, it unveiled an autonomous and electric articulating tractor—the Bobcat AT450X enabled by Agtonomy.
Bobcat had established a partnership with Agtonomy, a Silicon Valley-based, ag tech software company, to develop autonomous equipment innovations that increase ag productivity and performance.
The battery-powered AT450X combines Bobcat’s articulating tractor with Agtonomy’s software and embedded-computing technology to support emissions-free and autonomous operation, thus allowing farmers to automate labor- and time-intensive tasks.
The AT450X is designed to autonomously or remotely carry out critical farm tasks in compact applications, such as vineyards and orchards. Farmers can remotely direct the tractor to execute a wide range of tasks, including mowing, spraying, precision weeding, product and material transport, and other labor-intensive activities.
AT450X capabilities
- To operate, users plot the machine’s mission path via Agtonomy’s mobile application. This allows the end user to plan, execute, and monitor jobs running on an unlimited number of connected machines simultaneously which can yield a positive ROI for owners.
- The machine leverages AI to constantly “learn” and dynamically react to its environment. Through vision-based systems, it can detect known and unknown objects to auto-stop operation if needed.
- Capable of 24/7 operation, the AT450X can swap batteries when it needs to replenish its energy source. It does this by returning to its home base when its battery is low, switching to a fully charged battery and placing its drained battery back to its charging station.
Bobcat also showcased the next evolution of its RogueX concept loader (above) with the all-electric and autonomous RogueX2. Designed with wheels instead of tracks to optimize battery run time, the RogueX2 also features axial flux motors that give the machine pushing power. Together, the RogueX and RogueX2 concept loaders have garnered many new patents pending, Bobcat says.
