[9k9]

"Broadly, there are two ways to get the goodies back to Earth. The first is to attempt to mine a large NEA in its existing orbit, dropping off a payload every time it passes by. That is the reason for the search for asteroids with appropriate orbits. This approach will, however, require intelligent robots which can work by themselves for years, digging and processing the desirable material."

These asteroids will be a perfect place for malicious AI's to spawn...

[stcredzero]

It's entirely incorrect that the robots will have to work independently for years. To be economical, they would need the ability to be assigned tasks at granularities of hours, down to 20 minutes. If Planetary Resources engineers can get it down to "retrieve material from sector XY" then the entire operation could be controlled from Earth.

[JoeAltmaier]

First thing to do: make more robots from materials mined.

[swalsh]

The idea of entire space stations, and robots made from Platinum will always sound crazy to my pre-abundance-platinum mind :D

[khuey]

The idea that we would make disposable drink containers out of aluminum would have been crazy in most of the 1800s, when aluminum cost as much as silver.