That's a fun idea, and obviously a long way out, but there would have to be a lot of advances to make it possible.
Not all asteroids are made of the same stuff, so the robots would have to know many possible materials that the robots could be made of and how to process the raw materials into those refined materials and how to actually build the equipment to do that refining. That means that they would also have to know many ways to build refining equipment depending on what materials are available. It's a lot of variables and very difficult.
For instance, how can they create circuit boards if silicon and carbon and copper aren't available?
I think it makes more sense to build a robot factory in one location (a low gravity moon for instance) and send out the first few thousand robots to known asteroids. They could attach and shift orbits to where they crash on the other side of that moon where robots go and harvest raw materials to bring back to the factory.
Your current proposal is like telling 100 people to go to 100 specific locations on earth and build a bicycle with what is at that location. One guy in the desert might end up with a bike made of glass fired from the sand. Someone in the jungle might end up with one made with ivy and bamboo. While it's theoretically possible, it would be easier to send them out and tell all 100 to bring back all the materials they find to a central location and build bicycles out of the pile of stuff. The large amount of materials would render bicycles that are made of the best possible materials for each part.
P.S. If you're working at a startup that's pitching long-shot ideas like this, I really want to join you guys!
Not all asteroids are made of the same stuff, so the robots would have to know many possible materials that the robots could be made of and how to process the raw materials into those refined materials and how to actually build the equipment to do that refining. That means that they would also have to know many ways to build refining equipment depending on what materials are available. It's a lot of variables and very difficult.
For instance, how can they create circuit boards if silicon and carbon and copper aren't available?
I think it makes more sense to build a robot factory in one location (a low gravity moon for instance) and send out the first few thousand robots to known asteroids. They could attach and shift orbits to where they crash on the other side of that moon where robots go and harvest raw materials to bring back to the factory.
Your current proposal is like telling 100 people to go to 100 specific locations on earth and build a bicycle with what is at that location. One guy in the desert might end up with a bike made of glass fired from the sand. Someone in the jungle might end up with one made with ivy and bamboo. While it's theoretically possible, it would be easier to send them out and tell all 100 to bring back all the materials they find to a central location and build bicycles out of the pile of stuff. The large amount of materials would render bicycles that are made of the best possible materials for each part.
P.S. If you're working at a startup that's pitching long-shot ideas like this, I really want to join you guys!