NASA's Valkyrie Robot Ready for the DRC

 DARPA Robotics Challenge  

With the DARPA Robotics Challenge trials just days away, NASA has introduced the world to its entry, called Valkyrie.  The impressive looking humanoid robot is based on the space agency's Robonaut work, and looks to be ready for competition.

L ooking very much like a proper robot, NASA has unveiled its entry for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), and it is named Valkyrie. Aesthetically Valkyrie is a cross between a Japanese Gundham, Ironman and a little bit of ATLAS thrown in.

Unmistakably a cousin to Robonaut 2, who works in the International Space Station, Valkyrie will be competing in less than two weeks alongside the other robot competitors at the DRC.

Officially Valkyrie is known as 'R5' at NASA.  Presumably R's 3-4 were shelved in the development process(?)

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NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), which only previously released concept art for their entry in the competition has since the contest announcement been quite secretive about their robot.

IEEE Spectrum got the first look at the robot recently and shared the details.  Valkyrie is 1.9 meters tall, 125 kilograms, and has 44 degrees of freedom.  The battery-powered humanoid robot was built by NASA's Johnson Space Center team in Houston, in partnership with the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

Valkyrie is equipped with a large amount of sensors: cameras and LIDAR in the head, more cameras and sonar in the abdomen, and even more cameras in the forearms, knees, and feet. All of these data won't be transmitted back to Valkyrie's operators all at once, but being able to take advantage of whatever sensor is most relevant to the robot's current task should help Valkyrie be fast and efficient, whether it's being teleoperated or functioning more autonomously.

Certainly compared to most of the other DRC competitors, Valkyrie appears to be ready to safetly work alongside peple.  It is covered in foam and tailored upholstery, including stylish details.  "Our robot is soft," NASA JSC team leader Nicolaus Radford told IEEE Summit. "If you brush against it while you're working, you don't want to feel this cold, hard metal. You want it to feel natural, like you're working next to another human being. The soft goods, the clothes we put on the robot, give it that feel, that appearance of being more comfortable to be near."

The future plans for Valkyrie extend beyond the DRC.  Radford explains: "in the same way that Valkyrie has benefited from the 15 years of robotics development in the Robonaut program and NASA's exoskeleton, we'll continue the development cycle, with technologies that we've developed for Valkyrie feeding back into Robonaut, making our space-faring robots even better than they are now."


SOURCE  IEEE Spectrum

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