A brand-new planetary rover climbed up steps and trekked over large blocks of wood in front of the state Capitol on Friday — over and over and over again as curious lawmakers, legislative staff and passers-by took turns at the helm of its remote-control panel.

The 750-pound vehicle is the first of its kind to arrive in Hawaii as part of the state’s Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES, which is working on establishing a village of robots to serve as test subjects for international space exploration technology.

Rodrigo Romo, project manager for the robot village, said the ultimate goal is to send a robot village to the moon or Mars to pave the way for human inhabitants.

"There’s going to have to be infrastructure built before human habitation is possible," Romo said during the machine’s unveiling. "It’s not possible to send crews of humans to start building the foundations for a lunar base or Mars base, just because it’s too difficult to support human life for long periods of time. So the idea is to do that robotically."

Rob Kelso, executive director of PISCES, said robots would be sent to drill, mine, construct tools and building material with basalt, and more.

"When you go to the moon and go to Mars … you have to be able to live off the land and take a minimum amount of things with you because it’s expensive to launch those things from Earth," he said.

Even water and oxygen can be extracted from lunar rocks — a practice Romo said has successfully been tested on the slopes of Mauna Kea and can lead to the production of rocket propellant on the moon.

The Hawaii rover, constructed by Ontario Drive and Gear, a Canadian manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles, will make its way to PISCES’ home base in Hilo next week to begin its long-term work. Although it will eventually be a fully equipped lunar rover, it will never actually make it to the moon, Romo said. Instead, companies from all over the world will be invited to send their technology to Hawaii to be attached to the rover and controlled remotely through a secure server.

"Slowly it’s going to be evolving and taking shape into what is really going to be an analog to a lunar rover," Romo said. "This guy’s going to be the Earth analog to any rover that goes on the moon."

In addition to testing, the rover is also expected to teach.

PISCES plans to use the device to promote science, technology, engineering and math education in the isles and stimulate the state’s economy through job creation.

"Right now a lot of the kids who go into those careers, they have to leave the state; there’s nothing for them here," Romo said. "And our goal is to create a niche, to create an incubator where space technology companies move to Hawaii so we can create jobs and opportunities for all these kids."

State Sen. Will Espero, one of a handful of lawmakers who helped establish Hawaii’s first Aerospace Caucus this session, said he’s excited about the newest member of PISCES’ team.

"You can see that there’s a lot going on in aerospace, and the best is yet to come," he said, adding that the rover perfectly complement’s Hawaii’s role in the field of astronomy.

Espero also mentioned the role the rover will play in Hawaii schools.

"Robotics can be used in health care and medicine … underwater exploration," he said. "So this is just something that I think the kids will get very excited about and say, ‘Hey, maybe one day I could build them, design them, use them in my workplace.’"

The rover is set to make its official public debut Saturday at the Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor.