Now, grain handling equipment manufacturer AGI is adding augers to that list.

The company showed its prototype E-UTX Smart Auger at this summer’s Ag in Motion 2025 farm show near Langham, Sask.

The E-UTX uses battery technology sourced from a partnership with California-based Monarch, which currently builds battery electric (BEV) tractors. Monarch has also licensed its technology to CNH for use in its BEV tractor development program.

However, AGI’s Kent Woods says the new E-UTX is about more than just providing an electric option for an auger. It’s just one part of the creation of a smart auger that incorporates several high-tech features along with the alternative drive system.

“We wanted to take it a step further, so it’s a smart auger. We’re trying to increase efficiency but also hit huge safety concerns and try to alleviate them as much as possible.

“When we got right down to it, how do we take unloading a truck from a two- or three-person job to one person, where someone doesn’t have to leave their truck in -30 C weather? You’d run it (the auger) right from your iPhone sitting in the cab.”

Along with remote operation, the auger can also be controlled directly from an operator station that incorporates a joystick and digital screen, which can be used to input safety and control parameters as well as display operating data and a camera image.

To add to the safety of everyone working nearby, the auger has a “human detection field.”

“If it’s running and someone gets within that field, it would shut down,” Woods says.

A Smart Auger can also store GPS information about the farmyard it’s working in to help improve operator safety when moving it and to remember specifications about bins.

“It goes as far as mapping out each farmyard,” Woods says.

“If I have a bin that has a bottom hopper height of 28 or 29 inches, I can actually set the auger so it will never go any higher than that when moving it. I can map power lines through the GPS.”

The onboard system can relay information about how much material has moved through the auger to help assist in loading or unloading trucks and collect management data.

The battery pack is capable of running the auger under load for about four hours. It can be plugged in for recharging to extend that range if there is a power source nearby. If it’s being used where there is no electricity, the auger battery pack can be used to power other tools or systems.

While the model on display at Ag in Motion was a pre-production prototype, AGI expects to begin production of the E-UTX for 2026.

The exact specifications of the eventual production model may be slightly different than those shown on the prototype, Woods says, depending in part on the feedback the company gets from farmers.

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In mid-November, Caterpillar expanded the compatibility of its Cat Command semi-autonomous technology to its mid-sized wheel loaders.

Granted, few if any farms will be able to take advantage of this system — for the moment, at least — but it’s interesting to see how other sectors are approaching the subject of autonomy. This is an interesting example of what’s going on elsewhere.

Cat Command allows an operator to sit at a remote location in front of a control console and video screens and operate a machine, instead of actually sitting in the cab. Its main purpose is to increase operator safety when machines need to operate in hazardous conditions or locations.

“By allowing the user to comfortably control the machine from a safe location,” Cat says in its announcement, “Command maintains high machine productivity in operating environments like demolition, environmental remediation, stevedoring and the handling of fertilizer, chips, and sawdust.”

The system can operate on a line-of-sight basis or remotely from miles away. Cat Command is a dealer-installed option that plugs seamlessly into a loader’s systems. It allows for easy switching between remote and regular in-cab operation. It connects to the machine’s electrical and hydraulic systems for fast input responses.

Integrated safety features stop all wheel loader movements when the A-stop or remote shutdown switch is pressed, wireless communication is lost, a severe fault is detected, or the Command console is tilted more than 45 degrees from normal operating position.

For non-line of sight operation, the Command for Loading station connects to multiple machines at the same job site or different sites. The user can operate multiple machines, one at a time either onsite or from miles away.

Would a system like this have any use in your farming operation?

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