One of those is "Superbot, " created by a team of researchers at the University of Southern California.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side

And, despite Superbot's impressive morphing abilities, Shen said DARPA's vision of a liquid-like robot was still a long way beyond existing technology.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side

These collaborative robots remind us a lot of NASA's SuperBot, only with a clear mission to search and rescue (and minus the crazy acrobatics).

ENGADGET: Modular robots join forces to search and rescue

At present, Superbot units respond to direct instructions, such as to form legs and climb a hill or reconfigure into a snake-like shape to go through a pipe.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side

But Shen said the ultimate goal was for Superbot to decide for itself the configuration best-suited to a particular task, describing them as "smart Transformers" after the shape-shifting cartoon toys.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side

Superbot is in fact a modular robotic system consisting of individual cube-shaped units as small as one square inch that are capable of attaching themselves to and communicating with other modules to create larger robots capable of carrying out a wide range of tasks.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side

Current applications for Superbot are being developed with space exploration in mind, but Shen said the technology could be usefully applied in any environment dangerous to humans such as for search and rescue tasks in mines or underwater -- although the laboratory is still working on a morphing robot capable of swimming.

CNN: Robotics discovers its soft side