NASA's Space Robotics Challenge awarded Northeastern University with a USD 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 plane landing. NASA reportedly produced three more R5 models. Which one was kept in-house, and NASA "awarded to as research loans to nearby MIT and Northeastern University, while a fourth was acquired by Scotland's University of Edinburgh."

According to Digital Trends, the robot arrived at Northeastern in 2015 as part of a proposal which Engineering Professor Taskin Padir had sent to NASA for the Space Robotics Challenge software testing."They have done all of the hardware and we're developing these high-level capabilities so Valkyrie does more than just move limbs," says the Northeastern Ph.D. student, Murphy Wonsick

As per Yahoo, researchers moved the R5 to New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center, a large warehouse space where it can be operated by UMass Lowell that house large obstacle courses designed to put test robots and drones through their paces," just outside of Boston. On-board vision systems, navigation in tight spaces, and bipedal locomotion are some the criteria being tested at the NERVE research site, according to the same report.

According to NASA, in the last and finalist round, each team's R5 will be challenged with resolving the aftermath of a dust storm which will damage a Martian habitat. This involves three major objectives: repairing a solar array, aligning a communications dish, and fixing a habitat leak."

The Space Robotics Challenge is part of NASA's Centennial Challenges program set to award with USD 1 million to the team that can "develop capabilities of humanoid robot dexterity to better enable them to work alongside and independent of astronauts in preparation for future space exploration."

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