Build Your Own Robot With MIT's DIY Kit [VIDEO]

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MIT has received a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation to streamline the process of building robots -- meaning any aspiring gadgeteer can develop their own pet robot.

The robots will look less like Rosie from The Jetsons and more like a paper insect. But the MIT build-your-own-robot kit will allow builders to skip the years of research and the purchase of bank-breaking resources it normally takes to program a roaming robot.

“This is truly a game changer,” says Professor Vijay Kumar, a part of the Expedition in Computing for Compiling Printable Programmable Machines initiative. “It could allow for the rapid design and manufacture of customized goods, and change the way we teach science and technology in high schools.”

The computer science grant, one of the largest investments made by the NSF, will be handed out over five years. It is sponsoring the research, the organization says, because this kind of technology drives great economics and quality of life.

These easy-to-build robots hold the key to exploring dangerous areas -- to search for land mines -- or creating devices that can help the handicapped. But the development of these simple robots will lead into a future of more complex machinery available to the general public, according to researchers.

"If this feat is achieved, it would be possible for the average person to design, customize and print a specialized robot in a matter of hours," says a NSF statement.

Researchers see a future where individuals will be able to go to their local printing or hardware store to pick up materials to put together a robot. These customizable devices can be built for a variety of functions.