LAS VEGAS (DTN) -- DTN/Progressive Farmer stopped by the Doosan/Bobcat booth to see some of the technology on display at the 2026 CES (formerly the Consumer Electronics Show). We found a labor-saving, operator-assistant AI tool -- an important piece of technology that will someday be part of a Bobcat autonomous loader. We also saw a pretty cool, LED screen informing operators about their work environment and equipment performance just by looking through the glass of the front windshield.

Taking us on the tour was Bobcat's Vice President of Global Innovation Joel Honeyman, who also told a story about using Bobcat's autonomous mower on his family's North Dakota farm.

Here is DTN/Progressive Farmer's conversation with Honeyman. It has been edited for clarity.

DTN/Progressive Farmer: Tell us about Bobcat Jobsite Companion? The idea is to bring even newer operators quickly up to an efficient workflow speed, correct?

Honeyman: This prototype technology will provide real-time support and automation for everyday machine tasks. It's an AI assistant, but it's really simple. You hit a button on the joystick, and you can speak to the loader and tell it to change the settings for hydraulics, turn on the lights, turn on the wiper. You can ask for information about the machine. Might be a fault code. You want information simple and easy for the operator, and get information quickly, so you don't have to navigate screens and all these other things. So, for example a trencher, you can say, "Make my settings for a trencher." It will put you in creep mode. It'll give the loader the right hydraulic flow. Bobcat Jobsite Companion takes away all of those doubts an operator might have and helps the operator optimize the way the loader should be running.

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DTN/Progressive Farmer: What equipment here at CES best defines Doosan/Bobcats technology direction?

Honeyman: One of the things that will be introduced later this year is our collision warning and avoidance system on the back of loaders. When people use our loaders, they're (often) in tight spaces. This system will automatically alert the operator, but it also will slow down and stop the loader before it hits something. If we're ever going to automate the loader without an operator, we need this feature.

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DTN/Progressive Farmer: Bobcat has been working on its Advanced Display Technology, a micro-LED, transparent, auto-tint, touch-enabled display. How is that technology maturing within Bobcat?

Honeyman: We have a micro-LED screen that's put into the front windshield (or the door) of our loader. It's not just a screen. It's a smarter window into the work that delivers clarity and control. Through that you can see different worksite features. You can put up a video display with landscape features, get 360-degree camera views and positioning, and get real time visual asset tracking and real time performance data. It can include all kinds of different information that you can display. We don't have a lot of room naturally in our cabs, and so this is a great way for us to do that. Today, this is the third variant. We're closing in a commercial product.

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DTN/Progressive Farmer: You have an autonomous loader here, the Bobcat Rogue X3. What is it?

Honeyman: We think it's a really cool concept vehicle. It is electric and autonomous and is really pushing the boundaries of what we have. You might see pieces of it in some of our future products. When you think about it, especially in agriculture, how do we automate jobs like cleaning barns, clean out the granary, move grain or fertilizer. These are repetitive tasks where automated processes (demonstrated by Rogue X3) might work. I think we'll start to see those tasks become automated, with this kind of platform.

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DTN/Progressive Farmer: You have a personal story here about another one of your technologies, Bobcat's autonomous zero turn mower.

Honeyman: We actually took that out to our farm -- my oldest brother's farm in western North Dakota. The worst job he has is mowing the grass, and he's got four acres right in the front of his farmstead. We brought that zero turn mower out, and it automatically did the whole patch for him. And he couldn't have been happier. This is the kind of thing where we can give people back some time, where they don't have do these monotonous jobs anymore.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

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