Scientists have developed a mechanical computer made of cubes that works without electricity

Researchers from North Carolina State University presented a prototype of a mechanical computer. This innovative device, created from polymer cubes, does not require electricity and goes beyond the traditional binary information encoding system.
About this write edition of Interesting Engineering.
Thanks to a unique design inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami, the computer allows you to store and process data by changing the position of the cubes. Each cube can have more than two states, which opens up possibilities for more complex calculations and the creation of three-dimensional passwords.
The device is made of polymer cubes no larger than 1 cm in size. The functional block consists of 64 such blocks connected to each other by thin strips of elastic tape. The design of these cubes is inspired by kirigami, the Japanese art of paper cutting, and when any of these blocks is moved up or down, the geometry of the interconnected tubes changes.
The information density of this device is quite good. Using a binary structure in which the cubes are either up or down, a simple metastructure of 9 functional units has more than 362,000 possible configurations, the scientists explained.
Scientists believe that such a computer can be used in various fields, including the creation of tactile interfaces and new methods of information protection.