NASA's Space Robotics Challenge (SRC) took place last month, full of virtual Valkyries wandering around a virtual Mars base trying to fix virtual stuff. Anyone was allowed to participate, and since the virtual nature of the competition means there was no need for big expensive robots that mostly didn't fall over, anyone actually could (and did) participate. Of the 93 teams initially signed up to compete, NASA selected 20 finalist teams based on their performance completing some tasks in the Gazebo 3D robot simulator, and each of those finalists had to program a Valkyrie humanoid to complete a repair mission on a simulated Mars base. The winner of the SRC was team Coordinated Robotics, which also was the only team to manage a perfect run with 100 percent task completion, taking home the US $125,000 top prize plus a $50,000 "perfect run" bonus. "Team" may be a little bit of a misnomer, though, since Coordinated Robotics consists entirely of one dude: Kevin Knoedler.

NASA's Space Robotics Challenge awarded Northeastern University with a $2-million Valkyrie Robonaut 5 (R5) robot, which is now undergoing tests in a Massachusetts warehouse to prepare for the finalist round this June in a virtual simulation of a red-planet landing. The robot arrived at Northeastern in 2015 as part of a proposal that Engineering Professor Taskin Padir sent to NASA for the Space Robotics Challenge software testing, reports Tech Crunch. "They've done all of the hardware and we're developing these high-level capabilities so Valkyrie does more than just move limbs," Northeastern PhD student, Murphy Wonsick told Tech Crunch. "She can autonomously make decisions, move around, and accomplish tasks." Researchers moved the R5 to "NERVE (New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation) Center, a large warehouse space operated by UMass Lowell that houses large obstacle courses designed to put test robots and drones through their paces," just outside of Boston.

NASA recently announced a challenge open to any team to successfully program a virtual Robonaut 5 robot to complete a series of complex tasks within a virtual Mars habitat. NASA, in a recent collaboration with Space Center Houston, the Official Visitor Center of NASA Johnson Space Center, and NineSigma, just opened registration for their most recent competition so called the'Space Robotics Challenge'. The event is specifically designed to help create a functional humanoid robot to assist astronauts on the journey to Mars. However, future applications of the robot could see it be used to complete dangerous activities back on Earth as well. "Precise and dexterous robotics, able to work with a communications delay, could be used in spaceflight and ground missions to Mars and elsewhere for hazardous and complicated tasks, which will be crucial to support our astronauts," Says Monsi Roman, program manager of NASA's Centennial Challenges.

A new astronaut will join the roster to help facilitate man's first trip to Mars. Nasa is recruiting teams to develop and display the ability of a Robonaut 5 (R5) robot with a series of tasks that could save astronauts' lives in space. Called Space Robotics Challenge, the million dollar contest will create an AI robot to act as an astronaut's assistant. Nasa has launched a competition encouraging teams to develop and display the ability of a Robonaut 5 robot (pictured) with a series of tasks in a virtual environment. Each team's R5 will be will be challenged with resolving the aftermath of a dust storm that has damaged a Martian habitat.

Last year at the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals, NASA announced a new challenge for humanoid robots: the Space Robotics Challenge (SRC), which will "prepare robots for the journey to Mars." Just like the DRC, the first stage of the SRC will consist of a virtual challenge, run in the Gazebo simulator, followed up by a physical challenge using NASA's R5 Valkyrie robots. As of yesterday, NASA has opened registration for the SRC, and we'll take a look at the format of the competition, the challenges that teams will need to complete, and what they can take home for winning. The Space Robotics Challenge focuses on developing software to increase the autonomy of dexterous mobile robots--particularly those of humanoid format--so they can complete specific tasks during space travel or after landing on other planets (such as Mars), as well as on Earth. In the not too distant future, R5 has arrived on Mars along with supplies ahead of a human mission.

A new astronaut will join the roster to help facilitate man's first trip to Mars. Nasa is recruiting teams to develop and display the ability of a Robonaut 5 (R5) robot with a series of tasks that could save astronauts' lives in space. Called Space Robotics Challenge, the million dollar contest will create an AI robot to act as an astronaut's assistant. Nasa has launched a competition encouraging teams to develop and display the ability of a Robonaut 5 robot (pictured) with a series of tasks in a virtual environment. Each team's R5 will be will be challenged with resolving the aftermath of a dust storm that has damaged a Martian habitat.

It's always exciting when a new robot arrives in your lab. Usually, the more expensive the robot is, the more exciting it is. With the possible exception of Boston Dynamics' ATLAS, NASA's Valkyrie has got to be one of the most expensive humanoid robots ever made, and last year, NASA promised to give away (or, at least, lend) three of them to universities in the hope that Valkyrie will learn some new skills. Within the last few weeks, the University of Massachusetts Lowell, which teamed up with Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., took delivery of their fancy new robot, as did MIT and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. We talked to Holly Yanco at UMass Lowell and Taskin Padir at Northeastern, along with Sethu Vijayakumar at Edinburgh and Russ Tedrake at MIT, about what it's like to have a smokin' hot space robot show up on your doorstep in a bunch of pieces.