Sequential Motion in Mechanical Metamaterials

The execution and interpretation of sequences of actions are
central to a variety of complex processes, including robotic motion,
self-assembly, computing and protein folding. Here we, first,
introduce mechanical metamaterials that translate a global uniform compression
into a precise, multistep mechanical pathway of reconfigurations.
Second, we introduce non-commuting metamaterials, whose state depends
on the order of externally applied actuations. Together, these examples
illustrate how structural complexity and nonlinear mechanics can be leveraged
to obtain metamaterials with time-ordered and programmable functionalities.