Max Robotics — Global Service Robot Directory + US Certification

About

Jason M. Schuler is a robotics and space systems engineer whose career has centered on one of humanity's most critical challenges for deep space exploration: learning to live off the land beyond Earth. Working primarily at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Schuler has made foundational contributions to the field of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), developing robotic excavation systems capable of mining regolith on the Moon and Mars to extract water, oxygen, and construction materials essential for sustained human presence. Schuler is perhaps best known for his work on the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR), a novel low-mass excavator whose two papers have together garnered nearly 90 citations, establishing it as a landmark design in planetary robotics. He extended this work through the ISRU Pilot Excavator (IPEx), a 30-kilogram robotic system engineered to demonstrate large-scale lunar regolith mining under the Artemis program. His research spans robotic excavation mechanics, percussion-assisted digging, cryogenic robotics for extreme lunar environments, additive construction with regolith, and autonomous operations at the lunar south pole. With over 160 total citations, Schuler's work sits at the engineering frontier where planetary science meets practical mission architecture, directly informing NASA's roadmap for sustainable human exploration of the Moon and Mars.