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California-based Offworld, a company developing smart robots to aid in the human settlement of space, has begun deploying its robots in mines, construction sites, tunnels and other infrastructure projects on Earth to provide insight into how the hardware operates in different environments, CEO Jim Keravala has told Space.com.

It is too early to say when Offworld’s robots will be ready to leave the planet, Keravala said, but he would be pleased if the company’s robots could assist NASA’s astronauts when they land on the surface of the Moon, a mission scheduled for 2024. “At some point in time — I hope it’s before we have our first woman and man on the surface — we will be deploying our lunar variants to the lunar surface.”

Offworld’s “Master Plan” describes the use of smart robots, capable of machine learning, to do the heavy work of readying settlements for humans.

The first thing on Offworld’s agenda is to extract water ice for applications from producing drinking water for humans to making rocket fuel.“They operate in swarms, collaborating together, making decisions on their own,” Keravala said. “They can sense where the minerals and ore exist …. and act accordingly.” more “Offworld’s Vision for Smart Robots in Space Settlement”

Caterpillar Inc., the manufacturer of bright yellow mining trucks, bulldozers, and graders, has pioneered self-driving, remote-controlled mining equipment on Earth. Some of that technology may find a home on the Moon, reports CNBC.

The company’s R&D autonomous-vehicle R&D efforts data back to 1985. By the 1990s, Caterpillar had two autonomous hauling trucks running at a Texas quarry. The industry wasn’t ready for autonomy at the time, but Caterpillar stuck to its strategy. Its patience paid off. Today, Zion Market Research indicates that the global mining automation market will double to more than $6 billion in 2025. Writes CNBC:

Caterpillar is leading the autonomy revolution with both its vehicles and operational software. “We now have seven customers and we’re on 11 different sites,” Johnson said, “mining oil sands, iron ore, copper and gold and soon coal.” Cat has deployed 220 of its own trucks, both brand-new autonomous vehicles — costing from $3.5 million to $5 million each — and existing ones that have been retrofitted.

“We’re also converting competitors’ trucks,” Johnson said. “Our solution needs to be interoperable. It’s a competitive decision we don’t take lightly, because we recognize there are other [autonomy] providers.”

The idea of extracting mineral resources and propelling them back to Earth is far-fetched. Likewise, the economics of manufacturing the equipment on Earth and transporting it to the Moon don’t look promising. The logistics still need to be worked out. But Caterpillar is in the game for the long haul. It waited years for a market to emerge for autonomous vehicles on Earth, and it’s willing to wait years for a market to materialize in space. In the meantime, it continues its research and sponsors NASA’s annual Robotic Mining Competition, in which more than 45 collegiate teams design and build remote-controlled mining robots to traverse a simulated Martian terrain.