http://www.newsweek.com/moon-mining-gangs-robots-astronauts-manned-space-mission-1627485

A team of researchers is developing a swarm of robots for space mining projects. The team, which received $500,000 in funding from NASA, envisions the robots will be able to mine, excavate, and even construct simple structures on the surface of the Moon.

While the robots, which will be built and trained on Earth, will initially need to receive instructions from operators on our homeworld, the team hopes they will eventually be able to function autonomously.