Robots do exist and they are among us, but they are the kind that won't turn against humans -- just like the metal humanoids on Will Smith's sci-fi movie, "I, Robot."
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| Valkyrie, the superhero robot, poses with Nicolaus Radford of NASA Johnson Space Center. |
“Meet Valkyrie,” says Nicolaus Radford, deputy project manager at the NASA Johnson Space Center’s Dexterous Robotics Lab, in a video from IEEE Spectrum: “Superhero robot.”
Valkyrie, a 6’2” and 276 lbs. humanoid robot, has an arm-span of 80 inches. It has cameras in its head, abdomen, and knees, and sonar in its middle. All the power it needs is in a battery kept in its backpack. It is white and glossy, and the NASA emblem on its big, broad chest glows a pale, happy blue, like Marvel's Iron Man chest plate. It looks like it would fight for good, not evil.
“What more could you want?,” says Mr. Radford. “We really wanted to design an appearance for this robot that when you saw it, you’re going to be like, wow, that’s – that’s awesome.”
Valkyrie is completely self-contained: She can move her arms, legs, waist and head; is battery-powered; and she's chock-full of cameras and sensors. Ultimately, NASA wants the robot to be able to assist astronauts with EVAs (extra-vehicular activities, or "working on stuff out in space") on the International Space Station.
“Likely, NASA will send robots ahead of the astronauts to the planet,” says Radford. “These robots will start preparing the way for the human explorers, and, when the humans arrive, the robots and the humans will work together."
You can see a much more detailed description of Val over the Spectrum IEEE video below.--Source: NASA/Christian Science Monitor.