MIT CSAIL team will develop algorithms to enable 125 kg (275 pounds) and 1.9m tall (6′3″) “Valkyrie” robot to serve in “extreme” deep-space missions.

The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT will be one of two university research groups, the other being a Taskin Padir led team at Northeastern University, in the US to work on NASA robonauts for future space exploration.

NASA will send one of its 6-foot-tall humanoid robot to the MIT team led by CSAIL principal investigator Professor Russ Tedrake. The primary task of the team will be to develop advanced algorithms for the robot known as “R5” or “Valkyrie.”

The research and development falls squarely under the Space Robotics Challenge put forward by NASA to pioneer the creation of the next generation of autonomous robots that could be a part of “extreme space” missions, and possibly replace humans.

NASA selected Tedrake’s team from the groups that partook in the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Robotics Challenge that took place earlier this year. Research costs estimate point at as much as $250,000 annually for a two-year period, to be paid by the Space Technology Mission Directive (STMD) at NASA.

Human-Bot Space Mission Collaboration

According to Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator at NASA’s STMD, humanoid robots are vital to “developing the capabilities” that would be required to send humans to the red planet (Mars).

If development and tests go as planned, humanoid robots like Valkyrie may one day serve in space missions in different capacities. They may serve as frontrunners to perform mission tasks before humans arrive, much like the currently active Mars Rover, albeit with more advanced mission objectives. Alternatively, they may serve together with a human crew in human-bot space mission collaboration.

For now though, the R5 will have to prove itself worthy for the challenge of deep-space missions: a job description that is far more advanced and complex than its initial proposed task of performing disaster-relief maneuvers.

Advancement of machine autonomy in technology

CSAIL’s Professor Tedrake has amassed a wealth of experience with autonomous robots and heads the lab’s Robot Locomotion Group. In recent past, he has led a 20-man plus research team to develop algorithms for a 6-foot-tall humanoid robot named Atlas. The algorithms aided the robot to perform activities of different complexity from opening doors to driving a car within record time of one hour.

In the field of autonomous cars, Tedrake also works in a research center run by CSAIL and funded by Toyota to develop advanced decision-making algorithms and processes that enhances the perceptibility and navigational capabilities of driverless cars.