A surface vehicle comprising modular elements and attachable components, including a male end adapted to join a single-piece female end by rotating the male end into the single-piece female end such that data bus terminals align and power bus terminals align. The vehicle can be assembled from these modular elements and components to meet desired mission and performance characteristics without the need to purchase specially designed vehicles for each mission. The joints connecting the modules are designed such that power and data connections between modules are reliably made.