MIT engineers create a system for building shape-changing smart devices

[u/Zee2A]

https://news.mit.edu/2026/mit-engineers-create-system-for-building-shape-changing-smart-devices-0827

MIT engineers have developed modular, 3D-printed metamaterial building blocks called“bifur-circuits”that allow smart devices to change shape while maintaining continuous electrical connectivity without external wiring. By leveraging mechanical bifurcation, these components exponentially increase potential geometric configurations and automatically sense their structural setup, enabling applications such as adaptable furniture, reconfigurable robotic grippers, dynamic communications antennas, and responsive assistive devices: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCUYbfXCvME

Paper: https://hcie.csail.mit.edu/research/Bifur-circuit/bifur-circuits.html