English

Dynamic driving enables independent control of material bits for targeted memory

Soft Condensed Matter 2025-09-16 v2

Abstract

Mechanical metamaterials with bistable elements can store vast amounts of information, but writing these memories requires impractical local control or lengthy multi-cycle 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 towards smart, remotely operated devices across various physical domains.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2508.16257,
  title  = {Dynamic driving enables independent control of material bits for targeted memory},
  author = {E. Gutierrez-Prieto and C. M. Meulblok and M. van Hecke and P. M. Reis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.16257},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

7 pages, 4 figures in main text, 4 figures in SI