Nasa launches 1m competition to create robots for Mars

Humans will journey to Mars in the 2030s accompanied by robots, if Nasa's ambitious plans become reality. The US space agency has launched a 1 million competition challenging engineers to develop the capabilities of humanoid robots, which will help astronauts on their long and arduous journey to the red planet. The Space Robotics Challenge will see teams program a virtual robot modelled on Nasa's advanced Robonaut R5 android, dubbed Valkyrie, to complete a series of virtual tasks that could save human crew members' lives, such as repairing leaks. Valkyrie is a six foot tall, 290 pound humanoid designed to work in extreme environments. It can'see' thanks to sensors and cameras in its head, walk, and grasp objects in its hands, which have three fingers and a thumb.