Sending Robots to College

NASA Is Sending Two Humanoid Robots to College

Brian Mastroianni | November 18, 2015

They look like they could be cousins of C-3PO of "Star Wars" fame, and now they're off to college. NASA has awarded two prototype humanoid robots to research groups at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northeastern University for development work.
NASA's R5 robots were initially conceived for disaster-relief maneuvers, but now are seen as potential tools to aid astronauts in future Mars expeditions. They could potentially assist or even replace humans in extreme environments, according to a NASA press release.

Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/nasa-awards-r5-valkyrie-robots-to-mit-and-northeastern

<more at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-awards-humanoid-robot-prototypes-to-universities-for-research/; related links: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-unexpected-pleasure-of-watching-robots-fall-down/ (The unexpected pleasure of watching robots fall down. June 12, 2015) and http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/nasa-awards-r5-valkyrie-robots-to-mit-and-northeastern (NASA Awards R5 Valkyrie Robots to MIT and Northeastern. November 18, 2015)>