Nasa has unveiled its entry for this year’s DARPA Robotics Challenge and it’s a 6ft 2in so-called ‘superhero’ robot called Valkyrie. Valkyrie can walk by itself, pick up objects and even use tools - and one day the advanced machine could be used to save lives in war or disaster zones. The humanoid has been designed with female characteristics and its various built-in cameras, recording and sonar equipment are powered by a 2kWh battery.It is called an automaton because it can carry out tasks autonomously. It was designed and built in nine months by a team of engineers at Nasa's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas. Nicolaus Radford, project leader of the JSC Dexterous Robotics Lab told IEEE Spectrum: ‘We really wanted to design the appearance of this robot to be one that when you saw it you’d say ‘wow, that’s awesome’. ‘If you brush against it while you’re working, you don’t want to feel this cold, hard metal. You want it to feel natural, like you’re working next to another human being.’ Nasa is hoping the life-sized robot will be used in future humanitarian and space missions and it will be put to the test during the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DARPA RC) trials later this month. The challenge puts all entrants through a series of scenarios they might encounter in extreme situations, such as driving a vehicle, cleaning debris and cutting through a wall. Teams are encouraged to develop a robot that ‘could work with humans at disaster sites, capable of operating in a range of disarray and hazards and will allow relief agencies to reduce the danger to disaster victims and first responders alike. ‘ Winners are awarded a $2million grant to help develop the technology further and the challenge is an initiative run by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the U.S.Other robots being entered into the competition include Florian built by Team ViGIR - a group of engineers from Virginia, Oregon and Germany.It is named after St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters and weighs 23 stone. Another is Schaft, a bipedal robot built by the Japanese robotics firm recently bought by Google. It is small compared to the competition, weighing just 15 stone and standing at 4ft 10in. Carnegie Mellon University has developed CHIMP (CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform), which is one of the heaviest of the entrants, weighing 28 stone. It rolls on rubberised tracks to drive like a tank and uses 360-degree sensors to build a model of its environment to provide better situational awareness for a remote operator.THOR (Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot) designed by Virginia Tech is one of the lightest robots, weighing just 10 stone. According to the designers, THOR has three essential themes: ‘hardware resilience, robust autonomy and intuitive operation’. It stands at 5ft 10in. While the DRC-Hubo from Korean Team Kaist weighs just 8 stone and is 5ft 1in tall. Another entry from Nasa, this time from the Jet Propulsion Labs, is RoboSimian - a bidepal robot that weighs 17 stone. It has four limbs and hands that are said to be for both ‘mobility and manipulation’ and can support ladders, railings and stair treads.A total of 17 teams from around the world will bring their respective droids to trials at Florida’s Homestead Miami Speedway the weekend of 20 and 21 December.  The finals will then take place by New Year. (dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az