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Mechanical computing

Nature volume 598, pages 39–48 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mechanical mechanisms have been used to process information for millennia, with famous examples ranging from the Antikythera mechanism of the Ancient Greeks to the analytical machines of Charles Babbage. More recently, electronic forms of computation and information processing have overtaken these mechanical forms, owing to better potential for miniaturization and integration. However, several unconventional computing approaches have recently been introduced, which blend ideas of information processing, materials science and robotics. This has raised the possibility of new mechanical computing systems that augment traditional electronic computing by interacting with and adapting to their environment. Here we discuss the use of mechanical mechanisms, and associated nonlinearities, as a means of processing information, with a view towards a framework in which adaptable materials and structures act as a distributed information processing network, even enabling information processing to be viewed as a material property, alongside traditional material properties such as strength and stiffness. We focus on approaches to abstract digital logic in mechanical systems, discuss how these systems differ from traditional electronic computing, and highlight the challenges and opportunities that they present.

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Fig. 1: Three-level hierarchy of a computational system.
Fig. 2: Non-volatile and volatile mechanical bit abstractions as building blocks for mechanical computing.
Fig. 3: Networking mechanical computing units for digital logic.
Fig. 4: Environmental interactions.

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Acknowledgements

H.Y. and J.R.R. acknowledge support from Army Research Office award number W911NF-1710147, Air Force Office of Scientific Research award number FA9550-19-1-0285 and DARPA Young Faculty Award W911NF2010278. P.R.B., A.G. and R.A.V. acknowledge support from the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research of the Air Force Research Laboratory. T.D.M. acknowledges support from NSF 1837515 and ARO MURI award W911NF-19-1-0233. S.S. acknowledges support from the SpInspired project, EPSRC grant number EP/R032823/1.

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Hiromi Yasuda, Philip R. Buskohl

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Hiromi Yasuda & Jordan R. Raney

  2. Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, USA

    Philip R. Buskohl, Andrew Gillman & Richard A. Vaia

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Todd D. Murphey

  4. Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK

    Susan Stepney

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All authors contributed to the conceptual development and writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jordan R. Raney.

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Supplementary Information

This file contains the Supplementary Discussion, which briefly outlines how non-binary abstractions can be realized in mechanical systems, and how information storage scales with the base of the abstraction (binary, ternary, etc.) and the number of units. It includes Supplementary Figure 1 and Supplementary References.

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Yasuda, H., Buskohl, P.R., Gillman, A. et al. Mechanical computing. Nature 598, 39–48 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03623-y

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