department of defense. >> the valkyrie robot that nasa has been building is an extraordinary machine. of all the robots we have there it's the one with the most degree of freedom, the most joints that can move around and it's really quite sophisticated and i have very high hopes for it. it's related to the robonaut which is a robot on the space station right now, but it doesn't have legs, it can't move around. so what nasa johnson space flight center is trying to see if they can add the capability that the robonaut has now and add some mobility to the platform. >> reporter: 17 teams from around the world will be competing in the trial where teams will attempt to guide their robots through physical tasks, that includes testing mobility, dexterity and perception. >> what is so exciting about this is that we're actually trying to make the future. i've been reading science fiction books about robots ever since i was a little kid. much more recent stuff as well. and it's really an extraordinary