Here’s a new DARPA-inspired, NASA-built robot, complete with a glowing NASA Meatball in its chest, reminiscent of ET’s heart light. The robot’s name is Valkyrie and she was created by a team at the Johnson Space Center as part of the DARPA Robotics Challenge, a contest designed to find the life-saving robot of the future. While NASA’s current robot — Robonaut 2 – is just now getting a pair of legs, “Val” (officially named “R5″ by NASA) is a 1.9 meter tall, 125 kilogram, (6-foot 2-inch, 275-pound) rescue robot that can walk over multiple kinds of terrain, climb a ladder, use tools, and even drive.
According to an extensive article about the new robot in IEEE Spectrum, “This means that Valkyrie has to be capable of operating in the same spaces that a person would operate in, under the control of humans who have only minimal training with robots, which is why the robot’s design is based on a human form.”
Why is NASA building more robots? The thinking is that NASA could send human-like robots to Mars before they send humans. Right now, Valkyrie is not space-rated, but the team at JSC is just getting started.
She’s loaded with cameras, LIDAR, SONAR, is strong and powerful, and is just a great-looking robot.
“We really wanted to design the appearance of this robot to be one that was, when you saw it you’d say, wow, that’s awesome.” Nicolaus Radford, Project and Group Lead at the Dexterous Robotics Lab and JSC.
On September 26th, 2022, NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) collided with the asteroid Dimorphos,…
Universe Today has had some fantastic discussions with researchers on the importance of studying impact…
Since its launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has made some amazing…
Solar sails rely upon pressure exerted by sunlight on large surfaces. Get the sail closer…
From its vantage point at the Sun-Earth L2 point, the ESA's Euclid spacecraft is measuring…
Fresh imagery from the Event Horizon Telescope traces the lines of powerful magnetic fields spiraling…