The utility of sensor pairing.

I'd be fascinated to see paired parts - sensors that detect each other's distance or range.  I want very badly to create a drone with independently maneuvering weapon pods that move in formation with your ship.  And paired parts would make it possible; Gradius-style 'options' that move in formation with your ship and supply firepower.

If I could pair a directional sensor to a drone part (such as the drone brain) and if I had a 'range' sensor that could produce an output if further away, or closer than a certain value (with a sensitivity setting, like the directional sensor), then I could logically instruct a drone to maintain a certain distance from the main body, at a certain angle.

I could make snakelike ships that aren't subject to the physics of hinges, but with each segment following the next segment in series. 

My last project is a drone that connects its parts by magnets - but when a toggle is hit, breaks up, reconfigures itself, and re-attaches its parts for a new firing profile.  You could have ship parts manuever to different angles and re-attach themselves to fire at different angles.  Line up lasers to fire a straight super-beam, or re-attach them to angled parts to create a digging laser array.  I want to create Voltron!  Or something like that.