A mechanical metamaterial with reprogrammable logical functions

Abstract

Embedding mechanical logic into soft robotics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and robotic materials can greatly improve their functional capacity. However, such logical functions are usually pre-programmed and can hardly be altered during in-life service, limiting their applications under varying working conditions. Here, we propose a reprogrammable mechanological metamaterial (ReMM). Logical computing is achieved by imposing sequential excitations. The system can be initialized and reprogrammed via selectively imposing and releasing the excitations. Realization of universal combinatorial logic and sequential logic (memory) is demonstrated experimentally and numerically. The fabrication scalability of the system is also discussed. We expect the ReMM can serve as a platform for constructing reusable and multifunctional mechanical systems with strong computation and information processing capability.