At this week’s CES, future technology made its debut in an extremely "hardcore" way — it is neither sophisticated nor lightweight, but an industrial device made of steel, painted yellow, weighing six tons and full of real power, so large that it could not be moved onto the lecture stage at all.

For this very reason, Deepu Talla, Vice President of Robotics and Edge AI at NVIDIA, had to "find another way" to appear on stage with Caterpillar, presenting the largest technical demonstration by weight at this year’s CES. During Caterpillar’s keynote speech, the screen cut to the construction machinery manufacturer’s booth inside the exhibition hall, where a Cat 306 CR mini excavator was in place, ready for a real-time demonstration.

Real-time video from inside the cockpit was projected onto the large screen in the main venue, allowing the audience to witness an innovative feature of heavy equipment up close for the first time: talking to the machine through natural language.

"Hey Cat, how do I get started?"

The response came immediately — the voice came from an AI system running directly on the machine itself. It understood the question, called up relevant information, and replied in natural speech. On the screen, the excavator’s robotic arm lifted accordingly, and the audience leaned forward involuntarily to watch. At that moment, the future was no longer a concept on a slide or a description in a technical specification sheet, but was truly presented in front of them, with steel and chips as the carrier.

As Joe Creed, CEO of Caterpillar, said in his speech: "Caterpillar builds and empowers the underlying physical infrastructure of the global modern technology system." Whether it is the electronic devices in the venue or the data centers supporting the current AI wave, they all rely on mineral resources mined from the earth and infrastructure operating 24 hours a day.

"This is exactly the business Caterpillar carries out on a large scale around the world," Creed said.

On the CES stage, this usually unseen infrastructure stepped into the spotlight for the first time, relying on AI technology to help equipment operators achieve safer, more efficient and convenient operations.

Caterpillar’s equipment is known for its high adaptability, capable of meeting different climate, terrain and construction needs. Among them, the Cat 306 CR mini excavator is widely recognized for its high-precision operation capabilities and mature operation assistance functions, and has been widely used in various types of construction sites around the world.