The house of the future may have just one kind of furniture.

Engineers at the Biorobotics Laboratory (BIOROB) at EPFL in Switzerland have developed small robotic modules that change their shape to build furniture.

The reconfigurable design means the same small modules come together to form tables, chairs, benches and any other household structures.

Unlike their traditional forms however, the robot modular furniture can move itself around, transport food and drinks, and even interact with other devices.

This means that if a robotic seat were feeling forlorn as it makes way across your house, it could meet up with another piece of furniture, and the two may decide to reform themselves.

They could combine into a larger bench, set of shelves, mobile umbrella rack or anything else that a homeowner might need.

The “Roombots” project has been co-­funded by the National Centre for Competence in Research Robotics and is the subject of a new report in the journal Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

Each 22 cm-long Roombot has a wireless connection, a battery and three motors that allow the module to pivot with many degrees of freedom.

The modules feature retractable claws that they use to attached themselves to each other, or climb up ‘passive’ wall pieces of the same equipment.

The following video demonstrates the exciting project.