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Updated: May 8, 2026

Micro-drive Array for Chronic in vivo Recording: Drive Fabrication
Published on: April 20, 2009
Dynamic drives allow independent control of material bits for targeted memory
Eduardo Gutierrez-Prieto1, Colin M Meulblok2,3, Martin van Hecke1,3
1Flexible Structures Laboratory, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Mechanical metamaterials with bistable elements can store vast amounts of information, but writing these memories requires impractical local control or lengthy multicycle protocols. We overcome this limitation with a dynamic control strategy that accesses any configuration in a single global drive cycle by leveraging the system's sensitivity to the drive and its time derivatives. We realize this strategy with bistable beams on a rotating platform, where drive cycles become orbits in a control space of angular velocity and acceleration. State changes occur when these orbits cross switching thresholds, which we rationally design so that each state can be accessed by a single drive orbit. We construct a five-bit system and demonstrate its full addressability by selecting drive orbits that write all 26 uppercase letters of the alphabet in ASCII representation. This dynamic control paradigm offers a general route toward smart, remotely operated devices across various physical domains.
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