During this year's CES’ Media Days event, Doosan Bobcat shared several examples of commercialized products, recent concept products and innovation advancements. Among its latest concept updates and introductions, it unveiled the industry’s first autonomous and electric articulating tractor—the Bobcat AT450X enabled by Agtonomy.
The battery-powered AT450X combines Bobcat’s articulating tractor with Agtonomy’s software and embedded-computing technology to support emissions-free and autonomous operation. Commercialization details will be announced at a later date.
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.
To operate, users plot the machine’s mission path via Agtonomy’s mobile application. This allows the end user to easily 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 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.
Bobcat Company debuted the Bobcat AT450 articulating tractor in a June 19, 2023, press release as an addition to its grounds maintenance product portfolio. In an interview at Equip Expo 2023, Ron Scheffler, senior product manager at Bobcat Co., confirmed the AT450 is a repainted Steiner model.
