It could one day help humans colonize Mars, but for now, the 6-foot 2-inch humanoid is learning how to travel over treacherous terrain.

NASA’s Valkyrie has demonstrated that it can successfully cross a curved, uneven path in a similar fashion as a human.

The robot is equip with a LIDAR sensor, which allows it to ‘see’ the cinder blocks by illuminating them with a pulsed laser light and measuring the reflecting pulses with a sensor in order to calculate the distance between the block and its foot.

Scroll down for videos

It could one day help humans colonize Mars, but for now, the 6-foot 2-inch humanoid is learning how to travel over treacherous terrain. NASA’s Valkyrie has demonstrated that it can successfully cross a curved, uneven path in a similar fashion as a human

Valkyrie is the brainchild of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, which hopes to equip the robot named after the female spirits of Norse mythology to go to the red planet many years before astronauts are able to make the journey, for pre-deployment tasks and to maintain assets on Mars.

And NASA engineers based the design on the tether attachments used by spacewalking astronauts.

Currently, the humanoid machine can walk on two legs and perform basic movements, such as holding and manipulating objects.

It has 28 torque-controlled joints and nearly 200 sensors that are attached to their heads, arms, abdomens and legs.

Valkyrie's human-like shape is designed to enable it to work alongside people, or carry out high-risk tasks in place of people.

MEET VALKYRIE: THE HUMANOID GETTING READY FOR SPACE Currently, Valkyrie (R5) can walk on two legs and perform basic movements, such as holding and manipulating objects. The program is a joint effort between NASA and the University of Edinburgh. NASA hopes to equip Valkyrie - named after the female spirits of Norse mythology - to go to the red planet many years before astronauts are able to make the journey, for pre-deployment tasks and to maintain assets on Mars. Valkyrie's human-like shape is designed to enable it to work alongside people University scientists will seek to improve the robot's handling and walking capabilities, and use Valkyrie's sophisticated on-board sensors to help it make sense of its environment, and improve its manoeuvrability. Researchers will also aim to further develop the robot's ability to interact closely and safely with humans and other machines. Valkyrie's human-like shape is designed to enable it to work alongside people, or carry out high-risk tasks in place of people. They have Iron Man-style glowing chest emblems that contain linear actuators to help with waist movement. Their power source comes from a battery in a backpack that lasts for around an hour. Sensors include sonar and LIDAR, and operators can see what the Valkyries are doing on cameras attached to their heads, arms, abdomens, and legs. R5 is an update to its existing Robonaut, which currently on the 260-mile-high ISS, performing mundane cleaning chores and fetching things for the human crew. Each leg - 4 feet, 8 inches long - has seven joints. Instead of feet, there are grippers, each with a light, camera and sensor for building 3-D maps. NASA engineers based the design on the tether attachments used by spacewalking astronauts. Advertisement

The robot is equip with a LIDAR sensor, which allows it to ‘see’ the cinder blocks by illuminating them with a pulsed laser light and measuring the reflecting pulses with a sensor in order to calculate the distance between the block and its foot

The robot has cost the agency a total of $2 million thus far – and it still needs improved software and tests in order to get it ready for space.

But it seems that the humanoid is progressing, as a new video posted by IHMC Robotics, a robotics firm that developed some of its software, has revealed how it is capable of walking like a human, Motherboard reported.

The robotics team laid out a group of cinder blocks in a curved path, the Valkyrie cautiously walked across each one by bending its knees and putting one foot in front of the other.

The robotics team laid out a group of cinder blocks in a curved path and Valkyrie cautiously walked across each one by bending its knees and putting one foot in front of the other.

Each leg - 4 feet, 8 inches long - has seven joints. Instead of feet, there are grippers, each with a light, camera and sensor for building 3-D maps.

‘Our humanoid projects are focused on enabling our bipedal humanoids handle rough terrain without requiring onboard sensors to build a model of the terrain,’ IHMC Robotics shared on its website.

‘We also focus on robustly handling external disturbance. Our goal is to tackle increasingly more difficult walking challenges.’

HOW LONG WILL A MANNED MISSION TO MARS TAKE? Owing to the orbits of Earth and Mars there are specific windows of opportunity when a mission can take place. Our planets come as close to each other as 33.9 million miles (54.6 million km), but can be as distant as 250 million miles (400 million km). For this reason spacecraft to Mars, such as the Curiosity rover, have to launch in certain windows when the planets are aligned. The next window is open from January 2016 to April 2016, and will see the launch of two more missions to the red planet. For a future manned mission, they will need to launch out in one of the windows and return in one, which will take two years in total. Just getting there will take up to nine months. The astronauts will be there waiting for a year until they can come back - a total of around three years. But no human has spent more than 14 months continuously in space so research is needed to see how the crew will cope. Advertisement

Each leg - 4 feet, 8 inches long - has seven joints. Instead of feet, there are grippers, each with a light, camera and sensor for building 3-D maps

Each upper arm consists of 4 series elastic rotary actuators and when combined with the forearm has 7 joints.

The arm has a quick mechanical and electrical disconnect between the first two joints that allows for easy shipping and service.

Valkyrie can also be configured to run from a wall or from battery power and the custom dual-voltage battery is capable of running the robot for about an hour.

When a battery is not in use, it can be replaced with a mass simulator and capacitor that simulates the mechanical and some of the electrical properties of the battery.