Robots are going to do most of planetary exploration missions for us in the near future. Take the Sample Transfer Arm (STA) robot: it is designed to land on Mars to collect sample tubes. This robot can see and feel to take autonomous decisions.
The Sample Transfer Arm can pick up and transfer the tubes in to a rocket. As explained by ESA:
Only after the robot closes the container’s lid, the martian samples will be launched for rendezvous with ESA’s Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) and bring the material back to Earth.
[HT]