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NASA has built four sister robots to be pioneers in colonizing Mars in order for setting up habitats for human explorers. The robots that are designed by Johnson Space Center in Houston are now shipped to other universities in Massachusetts and Scotland to technically equip their skills and to prepare them for helping mankind in Mars.

As per the reports, one of the 6-foot-tall, 300-pound humanoids is retained in Johnson Space Center and the rest are shipped to Massachusetts and Scotland to enable them to be more autonomous. It is said that one of the robots Valkyrie, nicknamed Val, with its 28 torque-controlled joints and 200 sensors is still unable to harmonize its functions.

The robot which is worth $2 million is said to have ended up in ballet pose crossing its legs when it was made to walk at robotics center at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Taskin Padir, a professor at Northeastern University noted that the way the robot performs doesn't look good. Northeastern University in collaboration with UMass-Lowell will work on robotic software for improving skills like ladder climbing and so on.

"The rovers get their instructions uploaded at the beginning of the day," said Robert Platt, an assistant professor at Northeastern University who is part of the research team, reported Fox News. "Those instructions amount to, 'Go over there,' or, 'Check out that rock.' It's a completely different ballgame when the job for the day is to assemble a couple of habitats."

Holly Yanco, an expert on human-robot interactions and a computer science professor who leads UMass-Lowell's robotics center noted that the robots should be made in such a way that they are able to communicate back to earth concisely and clearly. As they are operated remotely from earth they should communicate promptly to get the instructions while they are used for building structures and repair works.

"Robotics has been making tremendous strides in the past five years. Drones, autonomous vehicles," Platt said, according to The Hindu. "It's one of those situations where you work on the same problem for decades and decades, and something finally starts to happen. Maybe this is that time."