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Yep, that was my first thought as an outsider and of course it's already used in those bins, it's more heavy-duty, faster, probably more expensive to install but more effective than a small robot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRISXr_euWo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vm5jSAmVe0

They still have to get inside sometimes (less than without them) to fix it but it's the same with the robot if it's get stuck or battery dies.



The first video perfectly illustrates how the majority of grain bins in Northern California are configured, mostly for storing rice and wheat. I grew up on our family farm and we have several grain bins. They contain a row of augers at the top, with the row width being the radius of the grain bin. The augers almost reach the floor and spin to "stir" the grain, and the entire row slowly rotates around the top. We called them "stirs" [sic] and they were installed 35 and 45 years ago, so it's definitely not a new concept. Very simple and very effective. Grain bins there also have large fans and heaters at the base, which we just called "dryers". Between the stirs and the dryers our area didn't have any suffocation or explosion incidents that I remember, but we knew those were risks and we were careful if we had to go inside full grain bins. It seems like more of an issue in the Midwest with corn and soybeans, and taller silos.




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