I want it, at home not on Mars! Since it is a woman and not a man even we talk about robots, the Valkyrie has a great potential in house chores. But even so, it’s not the case and probably will never be.

The supernatural Valkyrie robot is the preparation of NASA for Mars missions where the humans don’t have colleagues only other humans, they have as colleagues advanced humanoid robots.

Born 15 years ago as an exoskeleton on Johnson Space Center and no further as a human-like robot, the Valkyrie grows up with technologies developed over time and has taken human form that today are ready to enter among workers on Mars.

Engineered as a plastic and metal human with supernatural powers, Valkyrie is a lady with clothing developed inside by the manufacturer to fit on the panels and to have an increased resistance at possible problems in space. Overall, the female robot gives us an idea how space robots will look like, and most important, how they will work.

The chest area with a strong female conformation hides two design features. One reason is that in the chest are located the linear actuators for waist rotations, and the second reason is for protection if the robot falls forward.

The Valkyrie has to be smarter than every robot build so far for space missions, and I have to admit that it is not too far away to complete this requirement. Autonomy and not teleoperation are the keywords. The hardware and software requirements are for autonomous tasks and less for teleoperation. All of these requirements are translated in several latency, restrictions, and of course a huge amount of intelligence.

In space, everything we know about gravity on Earth is not applied, and everything we know about walking has to be deleted when we talk about space. This is the case of Robonaut, which is engineered without legs and to assist astronauts in space.

But this is not the Valkyrie case. This means that the robot was designed to be able to move through the rubble, lift, carry, fix, and build, for example in case of natural disasters.

Design and Technology

The 1.9 meter tall robot was designed to be above the average height of Americans, while the weight is 125 kilograms.

It is flexible with a total of 44 degrees of freedom, but not as much as a human that has a total of 244 degrees of freedom and around 230 joints in the body.

It is a soft robot, at least on the exterior. In several areas the female robot is covered with custom clothes.

Powered by a huge removable battery with an hour of activity located on the back, the robot has included a long list with advanced sensors such as LIDAR or sonar, as well as cameras (even in the knees and feet), a network of sensors that keep it running in almost all situations that may appear in space.

The arms have a total of seven degrees and are ended with three fingers and a thumb. With a total of six degrees of freedom for legs, the robot is fully equipped with sensors and actuators; it’s prepared for space and Earth missions.

Full of flexibility is also the head, which is a main component full of technology.

With a modular design, the Valkyrie has a great potential to work in space and to be a winner in the DARPA and NASA challenge. If one arm is damaged, in minutes another arm will be available, and this is perhaps one of the most useful feature of this robot.

In that context, I have the pleasure to feel in a virtual way the future. I think that this robot has a future in space and as well as here among us.