NASA Prepares Human Life On Mars With Valkyrie Robots

NASA is really upping its efforts to explore the possibility of human life on Mars. It now has four sister robots that can serve as the pioneers in the "colonization of Mars." 

According to Fox News, NASA's robots are part of an advanced construction team designed to set up a habitat for the more fragile of human explorers. These robots however are still being honed and developed. 

NASA is said to have kept on Valkyrie robot at the Johnson Space Center, located in Houston. The rest of the robots are loaned to universities located in Massachusetts and Scotland. 

While the robots are under the care of the universities, students and professors can play with these humanoids to make them more autonomous.

The robots weigh 300 pounds and stand at 6-feet. Even though they look impressive, they still have to developed further.

One of the robots, nicknamed Val, has not yet harmonized its 28 torque-controlled joints as well as 200 sensors when it arrived upon University of Massachusetts-Lowell's robotic center.

When Engineering students removed the robot from the harness and tried to make it walk, Val could not. Instead, its leg awkwardly lurched and locked into a quite hilarious ballet pose. 

With a hefty price tag of $2 million, this is not a good sign indeed. "That doesn't look good," said Taskin Padir, a professor at Northeastern University. 

Northeastern and UMass-Lowell have now partnered on a two-year project to ensure the robot's software will improve. If successful, the robot will be able to manipulate tools, climb ladders, and carry out high-caliber tasks. 

The main goal is to make these robots into space mechanics. "It needs to be able to communicate back to Earth, very clearly and concisely, what's going on," advised Holly Yanco, a computer science professor who directs UMass-Lowell's robotics center.

NASA has time to develop these robots, although they cannot just sit idly by. NASA's goal to land humans on Mars is not until mid-2030s, Johnson Space Center spokesman Jay Bolden shared. This was also earlier reported by Telegraph UK. 

The robots are considered a breakthrough. Even though NASA's robotic rover Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012, Valkyries can "assemble" habitats and not just run simple tasks such as checking out a rock. 

"The rovers get their instructions uploaded at the beginning of the day," Robert Platt, an assistant professor at Northeastern University who is part of the research team, said. "Those instructions amount to, 'Go over there,' or, 'Check out that rock.' It's a completely different ballgame when the job for the day is to assemble a couple of habitats."