Valkyrie has Arrived
The Valkyrie robot that ECE Associate Professor Taskin Padir will be enhancing for its preparation for space travel has arrived at Northeastern. See video and photos of its setup at Valkyrie had landed.
Local Coverage: Boston Globe, WGBH, Christian Science Monitor
Source: News at Northeastern
Valkyrie—the 6-foot-2-inch, 275-pound humanoid robot on which an interdisciplinary team of Northeastern students and faculty will perform advanced research and development work—is up and walking.
On Wednesday, a NASA team assembled Valkyrie at the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center, where the robot will be housed. Putting the robot together took the crew five hours.
The robot was developed by NASA, which selected Northeastern to conduct the research after a rigorous application process, and is primed to play an important role in future deep space exploration. According to NASA, Valkyrie could be sent to Mars or into other extreme space environments to complete tasks before human crews arrive.
Over the next two years, the Northeastern team will work on the robot’s ability to complete mission- specific tasks such as exiting an airlock, using a ladder to reach Mars’ surface, repairing equipment, and collecting rocks from the planet.