Mechanical Metamaterials with Reprogrammable Sequential Deformation for Analog-to-Digital Encoding and Computing

The integration of computational logic into mechanical metamaterials enables the development of matter with intelligence that can sense and respond to environmental stimuli. While recent advances have demonstrated diverse mechanical logic systems, a challenge is bridging the gap between continuous physical inputs and discrete digital outputs. In this study, we propose a mechanical metamaterial capable of nearly arbitrary digital encoding and computing of continuous stimuli through reprogrammable sequential deformation. The metamaterial is built upon an engineered multistable architecture that supports a series of snap-through events under uniaxial compression. Using an inverse design strategy, the deformation sequence can be tuned across a broad design space by tailoring the stiffness distribution of constituent units. Selective activation or deactivation of specific units in the metamaterial enables in situ reprogramming of the sequence without the need for remanufacturing. Experiments demonstrate that the inverse design and reprogramming allow a single material system to perform mechanical analog-to-digital conversion, signal processing, and field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-like logic operations. These capabilities open a new way for material-based computing, showing a promising route toward intelligent mechanical metamaterials.