THE ROBOT TODDLER!
£2m humanoid being developed to help colonise Mars can throw tantrums just like a spoilt child
SHE is among the most advanced robots on Earth – and her mission is to help mankind set up a new home on Mars.
But despite being the brainchild of scientists who have equipped her with the most sophisticated software ever developed, it would be fair to say the Valkyrie is having a few teething troubles.
Scottish scientists who are trying to teach her to think for herself have disclosed that the £2 million robot acts, at times, like a petulant toddler.
In order to create a machine that can voyage into space and colonise distant planets, experts at Edinburgh University are attempting to use advances in programming technology to produce an ‘artificial intelligence’ that will allow the robot to make decisions on her own.
Named after the female figures who brought fallen warriors to Valhalla in Norse mythology, the Valkyrie was sent to Scotland last May by US space agency NASA.
A year on, she has already made great progress.
She has learned not only how to perform tasks such as picking up objects and opening doors, but also how to overcome unexpected obstacles.
But as the parent of any toddler knows, learning to make sense of the world often comes with tantrums and foot-stamping – and it appears to be no different for the hi-tech robot.
Professor Sethu Vijayakumar, director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, said: ‘We think of the Valkyrie as a “she”. We are all becoming very attached to her. She’s an advanced robot, but still at the early stages of learning, which means it can be like having a child.
‘It is very frustrating when things don’t work, because it can set us back months.
‘But when things go right, it is very beautiful and it is very personal. Like with a child, when it’s good, you’re proud, but when things go wrong and it’s bad, you can become distraught.
‘One day, when things were going beautifully, the robot started stamping its foot. It was so strange. We realised that a sensor had overheated, which meant the Valkyrie felt as though its foot was floating and not on the ground properly. So it was literally stamping its foot. It was very funny, actually.’
The Valkyrie – which stands 6ft tall and weighs 20st – lives in the Centre for Robotics. NASA built the machine’s basic hardware before delivering it to Edinburgh University, which is renowned worldwide for designing ‘smart’ robotic systems.
It could initially move only a couple of points on its body simultaneously, but now the robot can walk on uneven surfaces, lift and grab objects and even make calculated decisions.
Professor Vijayakumar said: ‘It is, in a way, autonomous now. We are giving it the ability to be autonomous, the ability to adapt its plans and act on its surroundings.
‘The robot does not have a mind of its own, but it can do things we haven’t told it to do and make new trajectories for itself.
‘It is like we have initially told it something is wrong and programmed it to know this, so that then it can act the right way in certain situations, like bumping into things.’
He added: ‘It’s like teaching a child, “That’s bad, that’s good,” but not giving the child the solution.
‘It is giving the child the capability to make a solution – and that’s what the Valkyrie is learning to do.’
The humanoid robot is being developed to help astronauts land on Mars, with the first voyagers expected to journey to the Red Planet in the mid-2030s.
Scientists hope to pre-deploy advanced robots such as the Valkyrie onto its surface, so that they can build habitats and environments that are suitable for human survival.
Professor Vijayakumar said: ‘We are going to go to Mars and be a two-planetary species. It is going to happen and the only way to do this is to put robots there first, as we can’t survive on Mars as humans yet. There are already rovers on the planet, so the next step is getting larger utility vehicles with wheels that can carry the Valkyrie onto Mars. Then, the aim is to eventually use 3D printing there and create habitats for people. We will build an army of robots like the Valkyrie to help do that.’
There are only two other humanoid robots as advanced as the Valkyrie. They are owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northeastern University, Massachusetts.
Professor Vijayakumar said: ‘There is a lot of work to do. We are still just scratching the surface.’
‘We are all becoming very attached to her’ ‘We are still just scratching the surface’