A US company has unveiled build-your-own toy robots that can drive, wiggle and react to the world around them.

The robots are built using a modular system, called Moss, and use magnets as joints and hinges. There are no external wires and users don't even have to write any code to operate them.

By connecting the robots to bluetooth, users can control the robots remotely by using their smartphones or tablets.

The Colorado based company launched the toys on crowdfunding website Kickstarter.

CEO and design director, Eric Schweikardt, commented: "We're already making Moss so we don't need the Kickstarter funding. But in 2013, it seems like the place where people look for cool new tech products."

The final version of the robot kits would "begin shipping in January or February", he said. "We're at the very beginning of an exciting time for consumer robotics."

Hod Lipson, Professor of engineering at Cornell University, New York State, said: "Modular robotics have been around for decades, and we've always believed they could be cheap, robust and versatile. In practice, they've proved to be expensive and fragile.

"Modular Robotics is one of the first companies putting in the effort to mass-produce these things."

In October, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology showed off cube-shaped robotsthat can flip, jump and assemble themselves into different shapes.

The small robots, known as M-Blocks, have no external parts but can move using an internal flywheel mechanism and stick together using magnets.