Reprogrammable nonlinear magneto-mechanical metamaterials

Flexible structures with reprogrammable nonlinear mechanical responses—capable of being reversibly switched post-fabrication—hold immense potential for advancing soft robotics, wearable devices, and energy-absorbing systems. However, developing such adaptable materials remains a significant challenge. It has been recently shown that a flexible mechanical metamaterial with embedded rigid magnets can be reprogrammed by simply altering their orientation to achieve desired nonlinear mechanical responses. Building on this, we introduce an inverse-design framework, leveraging a fully differentiable simulation environment to explore the vast design space and discover non-periodic magnet orientations that achieve specific target nonlinear static and dynamic responses, which are experimentally validated. These results highlight magnetic interactions as a powerful platform for developing reprogrammable systems, paving the way for the next generation of smart structures and devices.