Carnegie Mellon University’s latest robot is called Snake Monster, but with six articulated legs, it looks more like an insect than a snake. It really doesn’t matter what you call it, says its inventor, Howie Choset, because the whole point of the project is to make modular robots that can easily be reconfigured to meet a user’s needs.

The walking robot, developed in just six months, is only one example of the robots that eventually can be built using this modular system, said Choset, a professor in CMU’s Robotics Institute. His team already is working on modules such as force-sensing feet, wheels and tank-like treads that will enable the assembly of totally different robots.

“By creating a system that can be readily reconfigured and that also is as easy to program, we believe we can build robots that are not only robust and flexible, but also inexpensive,” Choset said. “Modularity has the potential to rapidly accelerate the development of traditional industrial robots, as well as all kinds of new robots.”

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency sponsored this work through its Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program, which focuses on ways to design and build robots more rapidly and enhance their ability to manipulate objects and move in natural environments.