A swarm of robotic cockroaches and an army of spider-bots the size of your arm might seem like something out of your worst nightmare.

But these menacing machines working together could be the future of technology.

The robo-roaches might eventually help search and rescue teams, and the creators of the spider bots hope they will help build planes and ships one day.

Scroll down for video

VelociRoACH (pictured) is a crawling hexapod bot and research platform built by the University of California, Berkeley. The research team released a video showing a pair of the robo roaches taught to climb steps

VelociRoACH is a crawling hexapod bot and research platform built by the University of California, Berkeley.

HOW THE ROACHES CLIMB The robo roaches that were taught how to climb steps. When performed sequentially, a set of 'primitives' allow the team of two robots to climb a step on the order of their body length. The back bot pushes up the one in front. The bot on top of the stair then lets down a magnetic winch to pull its friend up. Advertisement

The research team released a video showing a pair of the robo-roaches that were taught how to climb steps.

'When performed sequentially, the set of primitives allow the team of two robots to climb a step on the order of their body length,' the researchers wrote.

The back bot pushes up the one in front.

The bot on top of the stair then lets down a magnetic winch to pull its friend up.

The simple demonstration shows how robots can work together to do things they would not be able to otherwise.

'Experiments demonstrate that the robot system can perform each cooperation primitive individually with a reliability of at least 50 per cent using simple strategies of maintaining a constant bounding frequency with the drive motors of each robot and a set tether tension with the winch,' the researchers said.

'When performed sequentially, the set of primitives allow the team of two robots to climb a step on the order of their body length,' the researchers wrote. In the video above, the back bot pushes up the one in front. The bot on top of the stair then lets down a magnetic winch to pull its friend up

It is hoped these robots will be useful in disaster situations.

'Small bio-inspired robots have the potential to improve the effectiveness of robot-assisted search and rescue in disaster scenarios, like collapsed buildings,' the researchers said.

'Small-scale robots can navigate through narrow spaces in a collapsed building that would be otherwise inaccessible.'

This is not the only demonstration of robots working together recently.

'Experiments demonstrate the robot system can perform each co-operation primitive individually with a reliability of at least 50 per cent using simple strategies of maintaining a constant bounding frequency with the drive motors of each robot and a set tether tension with the winch,' the researchers said

The robo-roaches can help each other climb stairs, unlike the Daleks in Dr Who (pictured) that famously can't. It is hoped the cockroach robots will be useful in disaster situations - again, unlike the Daleks

FIVE JOBS AT RISK FROM ROBOTS Accountants are 99 per cent likely to lose their jobs to machines. Umpires and referees have a 98.3 per cent chance of being automated. Waiters and waitress are 93.7 per cent likely to be replaced by machines. Legal assistants and paralegals have a 94.5 per cent chance of being automated. Fashion models are 97.6 per cent likely to lose the lime light because of robots. Advertisement

Siemens researchers in Princeton, New Jersey developed prototype spider-like robots that can work collaboratively to print structures and surfaces.

Named Siemens Spiders, of SiSpis for short, it is hoped the bots will accelerate the production of large-scale, complex structures such as the fuselages of planes and the hulls of ships.

'SiSpis are part of a larger picture that we define as Siemens Agile Manufacturing Systems (SiAMS) and they represent the core of our autonomous systems research here in Princeton,' said Livio Dalloro, who heads a Product Design, Modeling and Simulation Research group at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT).

'We are looking at using multiple autonomous robots for collaborative additive manufacturing of structures, such as car bodies, the hulls of ships and airplane fuselages.'

Siemens researchers in New Jersey have developed prototype spider-like robots that can work collaboratively to print structures and surfaces. Named Siemens Spiders, of SiSpis for short, it is hoped the bots will accelerate the production of large-scale, complex structures such as the fuselages of planes

'SiSpis are part of a larger picture that we define as Siemens Agile Manufacturing Systems (SiAMS) and they represent the core of our autonomous systems research here in Princeton,' said Livio Dalloro (pictured) who heads a Product Design, Modeling and Simulation Research group at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT)

But the key is the different parts of the robots have to work together.

'Each spider is capable of manufacturing only a small portion of a work piece,' said Hasan Sinan Bank, who has played a leading role in the project.

'We are therefore trying to conceptualise and optimise the kinds of collaboration these robots should engage in.'

The robots work together to make sure that no part is missed.

By dividing each area into vertical boxes, the robots can work collaboratively to cover even complex geometries leaving no box missed.

'No one else has attempted to do this using mobile manufacturing,' said Bank.

By dividing each area into vertical boxes, the robots can work collaboratively to cover even complex geometries leaving no box missed. 'No one else has attempted to do this using mobile manufacturing,' said Hasan Sinan Bank, who has played a leading role in the project