This is made by a company in our region and with the add ons and plans this looks to be a fun platform to experiment from as well as play with. Stay tuned for a possible robotics competition using these someday soon (I hope). I've actually been encouraging and trying to assist in that endeavor and I'm even offering a camp this summer using the products through a local non-profit:
www.discovertechnology.org
www.mymindsi.com
Recently featured in Servo magazine. This system is pretty durable (ABS and polycarbonate), totally configurable and allows for standard RC and hobby additions (motors, servos, wheels, etc.) With metal differentials and gearboxes you can build just about whatever you can think up and then even torture test it a bit. You can build it as an R/C device or add computing power to it as well and program it in 3 different languages. I think it will be good for prototyping ideas and training new members of the team. They even took my team leadership and myself on a tour of the factory floor and development rooms and shared with us all of the SolidWorks models so we can build virtual models and instruction sets for our own projects.
They are also really nice people to deal with if you have an interest or a question...and they support FIRST teams in our area....so double bonus!
The basic connector that makes this happen is here:
http://mymindsi.com/img/gallery/full-19.jpg
It has a solid polycarbonate core and a slippery/flexible outer body that allows it to lock in place and come back out only with the tools (so your model doesn't come apart unless you take it apart or shatter it somehow).
I PROMISE I'm not making any money off of this, and I don't want to sound like a spammer, but I've been watching the development of this product for over 3 years and I'm excited it's finally here!