Quick Answer
The Robot Terminal is a placeable command station crafted at Worktable III, usually as the final Expert Crafter task for Zerine. Place it on your homestead or beside a Moonlit Forest campsite, interact with it, slot in Gathering, Mining, or Logging Robots, and use Assign to give each one a job: Gathering Robots handle homestead crops, flowers, and ranch byproducts; Mining Robots work Moonlit Forest sub-regions; Logging Robots cover the forest. Robots keep working while you are away and store loot in the terminal; Recall empties a robot so you can reassign or move it. Robots are useless without a placed terminal — even the free ones from Islandpedia stamps. This system is completely separate from the combat Mini Sentry Bot sold at the Exploration Club.
On this page
- The Ore Locations guide maps the progression tiers where mining assignments matter.
Unlock and Craft
Progress Crafting with Zerine at the General Store: Senior Crafter unlocks the Worktable III blueprint, and building the terminal is treated by players and videos as the last or near-last Expert Crafter task. After crafting it, report to Zerine to finish certification. Once you are Expert Crafter, Zerine's store also lists the three robot blueprints.
- The in-game item text describes the terminal as a command station for issuing orders to robotic subordinates. Recipes (from the wiki.gg Worktable III page, with TechRaptor confirming the craft list):
| Item | Station | Materials | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robot Terminal | Worktable III | Perpetual Reactor ×2, Eternal Alloy ×4, Gear ×6, Chip ×4, Spirit Cube II ×3, Meteor Plank ×5 | wiki.gg Worktable III |
| Gathering Robot | Worktable III | Spring ×3, Eternal Alloy ×3, Spirit Cube III ×1, High-Performance Wire Set ×5, Lunar Crystal ×1, Chip ×2 | wiki.gg Worktable III |
| Mining Robot | Worktable III | Same recipe as Gathering Robot | wiki.gg Worktable III |
| Logging Robot | Worktable III | Same recipe as Gathering Robot | wiki.gg Worktable III |
- You can also get robots before or without crafting them: the Islandpedia Gatherables stamp track rewards 1 Gathering Robot at 67 stamps and 1 Mining Robot plus 1 Logging Robot at 89 stamps (wiki.gg and IGN agree). Those robots still cannot work until you own a placed terminal.
Place the Terminal
- Place it from the equipment/build menu on your homestead, or next to a Moonlit Forest tent or campsite for forest work.
- Do not try to drop it on a raw ore node or cave floor outside a camp radius — forest assignments require a terminal placed within the camp area.
- To relocate a placed terminal, enter build mode (players report C on PC) and pick it up. Some Early Access builds could not enter build mode at later forest camps, so place carefully there.
Add, Assign and Recall
- Interact with the placed terminal and add robots from your inventory, the same way animals go into pens.
- Select a robot and choose Assign:
- Mining Robots pick a Moonlit Forest sub-region; different areas yield different ores plus ore chunks.
- Logging Robots cover the forest as a whole, with no sub-region split.
- Gathering Robots pick homestead jobs — official patch notes name regular crops, flowers, ranching tasks, sunflowers, seeds, and cicada products as separate selectable jobs.
- Leave them running — assigned forest robots work even when you are not nearby. Collect stored items from the terminal.
- Use Recall to dump a robot's inventory into terminal storage, change its assignment, or move it to another terminal.
Robot Types
| Robot | Official item text | Best-supported assignment | Weak or disputed use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gathering Robot | Automatically gathers resources and crops within range | Homestead crops, flowers, ranch byproducts, seeds | Forest gathering is not established |
| Mining Robot | Automatically mines minerals within range | Moonlit Forest sub-regions, chosen by ore | A complete per-zone ore table is not published |
| Logging Robot | Automatically cuts down trees within range | Whole Moonlit Forest | Homestead tree assignments are poorly documented |
Home vs Moonlit Forest
- Homestead: one terminal can run your daily pickup loop — crops, flowers, animal products. Players find ranch byproduct pickup the most reliable job.
- Moonlit Forest: place a terminal at each campsite you want covered. Mining Robots take sub-region assignments tied to different ores, while Logging Robots handle the forest as a whole. Use Gathering Robots at the homestead because forest gathering behavior is not established by the reviewed sources.
Storage, Limits and Known Uncertainty
- Recall returns a robot's gathered items to terminal storage and lets you change its assignment. Empty the terminal regularly during long automation cycles so the interface remains easy to audit. A verified storage limit, deposit schedule, robot cap, and blueprint price are not available in the reviewed sources.
- An unofficial fan site's Expert Crafter / Expert Farmer objective lists (deploy a mining robot, build a teleporter, robots unlocked via the Farmer line) are self-marked incomplete and conflict with the TechRaptor shop list — do not plan around them.
Robot Terminal vs Mini Sentry
- These are two unrelated systems that players constantly mix up:
| Robot Terminal system | Mini Sentry Bot | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Automation: gathering, mining, logging | Combat support |
| Source | Crafted at Worktable III (Expert Crafter) | Bought at the Exploration Club |
| Placement | Homestead or forest camps, then Assign | Deployed for fights |
| Covered by | TechRaptor, Steam guides, wiki recipes | IGN's beginner tips |
- If a guide mentions "sentry" or combat robots, it is not about the terminal.
Troubleshooting
- My robots just stand around. Check that the terminal is placed within a camp radius (forest) or on your homestead, that the robot is slotted into the terminal, and that an assignment is selected. Farm robots were buggy in Early Access — official patches fixed several stall and wrong-harvest cases, so update before assuming user error.
- The robot harvested my crops but not the way I wanted. Official patches split gathering into separate selectable jobs (crops vs flowers vs ranch products), so re-check the assignment. Flower-exclusion is intended behavior, but players still report occasional mistakes.
- I got a robot from Islandpedia but can't use it. You need a placed terminal first — stamps hand out robots before the Expert Crafter terminal exists.
- I can't pick the terminal back up. Enter build mode (C on PC, per player reports) and remove it; some Early Access forest camps blocked build mode entirely.
FAQ
How do I unlock the Robot Terminal?
Progress the Crafter profession with Zerine: Senior Crafter unlocks Worktable III, and crafting the Robot Terminal is treated by players and videos as the last or near-last Expert Crafter task. Report to Zerine afterward to finish certification.
Is there a limit on robots per terminal?
A verified per-terminal robot limit is not available in the reviewed sources. Add robots through the terminal interface and use Recall whenever you need to empty or reassign one.
How much do robot blueprints cost?
Check Zerine's current Expert Crafter stock in game. The reviewed sources confirm that the three robot blueprints appear there, but they do not establish a current price.
Can a Gathering Robot forage in the Moonlit Forest?
Probably not. The item text says it gathers resources and crops in range, but the Steam guide and most players report forest gathering does little or nothing — use Gathering Robots for homestead crops, flowers, and ranch byproducts, and Mining/Logging Robots for the forest.
Is the Robot Terminal the same as the Mini Sentry Bot?
No. The Mini Sentry Bot is a combat item sold at the Exploration Club. The Robot Terminal is a farming/exploration automation station for Gathering, Mining, and Logging Robots — completely separate systems.
Do I need a terminal before using robots from Islandpedia stamps?
Yes. Islandpedia Gatherables stamps (67 for a Gathering Robot, 89 for a Mining plus a Logging Robot) hand out robots early, but they cannot work until you own a placed terminal.
Sources
- OfficialStarsand Island on Steam (Opens in a new window)
- OfficialStarsand Island Steam news (official patch notes) (Opens in a new window)
- PressStarsand Island Blueprints Guide — TechRaptor (Opens in a new window)
- PressStarsand Island Crafting Guide — TechRaptor (Opens in a new window)
- Community WikiWorktable III — Starsand Island Wiki (wiki.gg) (Opens in a new window)
- Community WikiIslandpedia — Starsand Island Wiki (wiki.gg) (Opens in a new window)
- Player ReportSteam guide: Things Worth Noting (Opens in a new window)
- Player ReportSteam discussion: How do you use the gathering robot? (Opens in a new window)