Heavy-Shift
Autonomy & Robotics

Caterpillar Adds Skycatch to Mining Tech Stack — AI-Powered Spatial Data Meets MineStar and RPM

By Heavy-shift 3 min read

Caterpillar Adds Skycatch to Mining Tech Stack — AI-Powered Spatial Data Meets MineStar and RPM

Published July 8, 2026

Caterpillar Inc. has acquired Skycatch Inc., a San Francisco-based specialist in drone automation, spatial data capture, and AI-powered mine-site analytics. Announced July 7, the deal marks the latest in a string of technology acquisitions that are reshaping the 100-year-old manufacturer into a mining technology powerhouse.

What Skycatch Brings to the Table

Founded in 2013, Skycatch has built a platform that captures high-frequency, high-precision spatial data across large mine sites — stockpiles, pit walls, haul roads, and active faces — and processes it through AI tools to create near-real-time digital twins of the physical operation. Where conventional survey cycles might take days or weeks, Skycatch can map, analyze, and deliver an updated digital model in hours.

The technology has been deployed across global mining operations, reducing 3D data capture time by as much as 60 % compared to traditional photogrammetry while covering larger areas in a fraction of the time — and without exposing personnel to active mining environments.

Integration Into the Cat Ecosystem

Skycatch will be integrated into both RPMGlobal's planning software suite and Cat MineStar, Caterpillar's fleet management and automation platform. This is significant: RPMGlobal, which Caterpillar acquired in February 2026, brings more than 30 software applications covering long-term mine planning, scheduling, asset performance modeling, and equipment simulation, already in use across 125 countries.

By plugging Skycatch's near-real-time spatial data into RPM, mine planners can adjust schedules as conditions change rather than waiting for the next survey cycle. And when the same data feeds MineStar, autonomous haulage systems get a continuously updated picture of the mine — better route planning, fewer delays, and tighter alignment between what was planned and what is actually happening on the ground.

"By integrating near-real-time, high-resolution spatial data into both RPM and MineStar solutions, we can help customers improve mine site performance by enhancing safety, productivity, and predictability across their operations using both staffed and autonomous fleets," said Denise Johnson, Group President of Caterpillar Resource Industries.

A Pattern Emerges

The Skycatch acquisition fits a broader trajectory. In the past year alone, Caterpillar has launched a Cat AI Assistant powered by Nvidia's industrial edge AI platform, completed the $732 million acquisition of RPMGlobal, and now added a real-time spatial data layer that bridges the gap between mine planning and execution.

Richard Mathews, CEO of RPMGlobal, described the shift in operational terms: "Skycatch's ability to process large volumes of spatial data at dramatically improved speeds opens up a fundamentally different way of operating. With a near real-time spatial view of the operation, miners can adjust plans as conditions change, improve alignment between planning and execution, and deliver more predictable outcomes."

The message is clear: Caterpillar is no longer content to be just the world's largest manufacturer of earthmoving equipment. It is positioning itself as the operating system for modern mining — software, data, AI, and autonomy bundled with the hardware.

What This Means for Mining Customers

For mine operators running Cat equipment — whether staffed, autonomous, or a mix of both — the Skycatch acquisition promises practical near-term benefits. Fresher spatial data means fewer surprises. Haul roads can be flagged for maintenance before they degrade production rates. Stockpile volumes can be tracked continuously rather than measured at fixed intervals. And autonomous truck fleets can adapt their routes as the mine face shifts throughout the day.

Christian Sanz, Skycatch Founder and CEO, framed the move as a natural next step: "We're incredibly proud of what Skycatch has built over the past decade and excited for this next chapter with Caterpillar. This next step strengthens our ability to support our customers while increasing the value we can deliver."

The Bottom Line

Caterpillar is spending aggressively to catch up in the mining software race, and the combination of RPMGlobal for planning, Skycatch for real-time spatial data, and MineStar for fleet execution creates a vertically integrated stack that few competitors can match. The question going forward is how quickly Cat can weave these pieces into a seamless product — and whether mining customers will buy into a single-vendor digital ecosystem as readily as they buy Cat iron.

Sources

Autonomy & Robotics