There is another potential candidate to be sent on the first Mars Starships - robots from a company called GITAI. This article discusses why they could be a good fit.
Who are GITAI?
GITAI's vision is "to provide a safe and affordable means of labor in Space". They are achieving this by creating a set of robots that works together to handle different mission profiles.
Their details can be found here: https://gitai.tech/
The following video demonstrates the types of robots produced by them and the range of mission profiles they are being tested for:
Why not just Tesla Optimus?
Elon Musk has confirmed that a number of Tesla Optimus robots will be sent to Mars on the first Starships in 2026. So if they are being sent, why send something else?
Simply put - redundancy.
Sending many Optimus robots gives them redundancy among themselves, but not redundancy if they have a major design flaw in the Mars environment.
With a second kind of robot included there is a higher likelihood of overall success if one or the other does not work as expected.
Having a partly humanoid component means they can cover some of the operations of Optimus and, as such, is complementary for various mission tasks.
Taking the GITAI set of robots also gives an alternative to the Cybertrucks. While they cannot travel as far or as fast, they can still do short range missions around the landing site (approximately 5 km range). This way, if there is a major issue with Cybertrucks on Mars, many of the mission profiles can still be met, albeit at a shorter range.
The GITAI rover can also fit in the deck of a Cybertruck, which multiplies the scope of mission operations possible. Sending off a Cybertruck with two Optimus robots and a GITAI rover is quite a powerful set of tools.
One other key advantage with the rover is it is easier to unload from Starship on first landings. It is lighter and smaller, making it a good second on the ground robot after Optimus.
Mission Readiness
GITAI robots are already in the advanced stages of development and should be ready for Mars if it is given priority.
Up until now, they have been focused on the Moon, only because they haven't been asked to get ready for Mars.
Maybe now is that time to ask?