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