A new type of reprogrammable material can be configured into over 150 decillion different mechanical states within a single small assembly.
April 25, 2026
Original Paper
Lattice systems consisting of directional deformation units with non-monotonic tooth contact stiffness
SSRN · 6642002
The Takeaway
Engineers created a lattice structure with tiny, gear-like teeth that can be adjusted to change how the material bends or resists pressure. This allows a single block of material to act as anything from a soft cushion to a rigid structural beam on command. The number of possible configurations is 1.5 times 10 to the 130th power, which is more than the number of atoms in the entire observable universe. This level of customization means we could build aircraft or robots that fundamentally change their physical nature to adapt to different environments. It turns the idea of static materials into something as flexible and programmable as computer software.
From the abstract
This work presents a novel lattice system with reprogrammable stiffness, composed of oppositely assembled arrow-like units whose mechanical performance is dominated by tooth contact conflicts. Three tooth contact modes (30°, 50°, 90° windward angles) and 11 assembly patterns with varying contact tooth numbers were designed. Compression tests and finite element analysis revealed that structural stiffness is not positively correlated with contact tooth number but governed by the torsion angle δ of