A robot developed by NASA in preparation for missions to Mars is returning to the USA following a decade at the University of Edinburgh. The human-sized robot – named Valkyrie after the female spirits of Norse mythology – is the only one of its kind outside of the USA, and one of just three prototypes in the world.Students and staff have bid a fond farewell to Valkyrie as it returns to NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Texas, after the end of a 10-year lease with the University.Researchers will look to continue working closely with NASA on a range of other projects, specifically focusing on improving whole-body manipulation and perception in humanoid robots. PhD student Elle Miller (left) and Professor Sethu Vijayakumar (right) with the NASA Valkyrie robot A Rare and Advanced Humanoid Robotics Platform Valkyrie was one of the most advanced humanoid robots in the world when it arrived in Edinburgh in 2016.NASA aimed to equip Valkyrie to go to Mars many years before astronauts are able to make the journey, for pre-deployment tasks and to maintain assets on the Red Planet.Standing 1.8 metres tall and weighing some 125 kg, Valkyrie’s human-like shape was designed to enable it to work alongside people or carry out high-risk tasks, sometimes in environments inhospitable to humans. Valkyrie’s unique hardware included so-called Series Elastic Actuators and a range of sensors, components that are crucial for safe, close human-robot interactions.On delivery, the humanoid could walk on flat ground and perform basic movements, such as holding and manipulating objects. During its time in Edinburgh, researchers worked to give Valkyrie a more sophisticated set of skills using AI in the form of machine learning, enabling it to better understand and respond to its surroundings.Scientists improved the robot’s handling and walking capabilities, and helped Valkyrie use its on-board sensors to better make sense of its environment, improving its manoeuvrability.The focus of research involving Valkyrie has been on teaching it to adapt to changing conditions using data, navigate uneven or unpredictable surfaces, and developing smarter ways of connecting what the robot sees to what it does — all fast enough to work in the real world. A Decade of Research Impact at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Research on Valkyrie was conducted at the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics, a joint initiative between the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University. Dozens of PhD students and researchers from the Centre carried out research using Valkyrie, enabling important developments in humanoid control, motion planning and perception.The project was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).Dr Vladimir Ivan is a former student at the University of Edinburgh who worked on Valkyrie, and is now Chief Technical Officer at a robotics start-up, Touchlab, based in Edinburgh. Hosting NASA Valkyrie at the University of Edinburgh was a rare privilege at a time when humanoid robots were not commercially available and only a handful of research prototypes existed worldwide. It gave us a unique opportunity to advance fundamental research in mobility and stability – work that has since evolved into humanoid systems we see in today - while helping to train and inspire a generation of outstanding roboticists.Valkyrie’s presence also helped catalyse Edinburgh’s evolution into a vibrant robotics hub, known for world-class research, thought leadership, and a thriving environment to grow knowledge, ideas, and robotics businesses. Dr Vladimir Ivan Continuing Humanoid Research with Talos Research into humanoid robots will continue at Edinburgh using Talos – a 1.75-metre-tall robot that the University took delivery of in 2020. Scientists use Talos to study how robots walk, balance and use tools, and how they employ machine learning to adapt to ever-changing environments, using a form of human-robot cooperative working known as dyadic human interaction.Advances in the research could have applications in a range of areas, including assisted living and healthcare settings. It was a gamble to invest so heavily in humanoids research back in the 2010s, when the scalability of the adaptive learning-based methods for robot planning and control we were advocating was not obvious.In hindsight, this bold decision has contributed to the exciting wave of data-driven humanoid robot research that is now taken for granted. Valkyrie was indeed a trendsetter, benefitting from world-leading hardware from NASA. We will miss her, but it has been a privilege. Thank you for all the fun, Valkyrie! Professor Sethu Vijayakumar Personal Chair in Robotics and Director of the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics at the University of Edinburgh Article originally published on the University of Edinburgh website Related links Edinburgh Centre for Robotics Link to School of Informatics' NASA Valkyrie Robot Website Publication date 06 Mar, 2026
