Nanoshape Holdings, Inc., Columbus

Making shape programmable.

Object: One connected body, built from repeating ShapeCells.
Control: Geometry set by software, cell by cell.
Hold: Latched cells keep their shape without continuous power.

Design targetWhat the design is built to do. Not yet measured on Nanoshape hardware.

Visualisation: a connected sheet of ShapeCells on the Shape Dock rolls into its stowed form, then opens into a deployed shell — Fig. 01 — Shape Compiler, stowed to deployed
Each cell is one small decision. The compiler makes them in order, and the shape appears.
VisualisationShows the operating principle. Not a recording of hardware.
See the Shape Compiler →

The shift

Pixels made colour programmable. Shape is next.

A display is a grid of small elements. Each one holds a state, software sets the states, and together they make an image. Nobody builds a new screen for each picture.

Physical shape still works the old way. A part that needs a different form needs a different object: a new fixture, a new mould, a new structure.

Proteus applies the display idea to geometry. Each ShapeCell holds a mechanical state. Software sets the states. Together they make a shape.

Same idea, different quantity
Property	Display	Proteus
Element	Pixel	ShapeCell
State	Colour	One of two stable geometries
Set by	Software	Software, through the Shape Dock
Sum of states	An image	A physical form
Neighbours	Independent	Mechanically connected

Unlike pixels, ShapeCells are mechanically connected. Changing one cell’s state moves its neighbours, and the sheet folds, curves, expands or contracts as one body.

ArchitectureDescribes the design. Not a measured Nanoshape result.

Why now

AI has a brain. The body is still hard-coded.

Software can now plan, design and adapt in minutes. The physical things it works through still have a shape fixed the day they were made. Changing that shape means making something new.

A body whose geometry is a software state closes part of that gap. The shape becomes something you command, check and change, not something you machine.

Proteus

One connected body. Thousands of commanded cells.

Proteus is a shape-morphing mechanical metamaterial: one connected body of repeating ShapeCells whose geometry software sets and the cells hold.

A ShapeCell is a compliant mechanism with two mechanically stable geometries separated by an energy barrier: a mechanical state element, not a motor.

The Shape Dock commands the cells. Proteus must be docked to reconfigure. Once latched, it holds its geometry off-dock at zero power.

ArchitectureDescribes the design. Not a measured Nanoshape result.Design targetOff-dock, zero-power hold is a design target. Not yet measured on Nanoshape hardware.How Proteus works

Proteus held clear of the Shape Dock, folded into a stepped fixture: a flat plateau held between two S-folds — Fig. 02 — Proteus, latched off-dock, stepped fixture
Concept renderGenerated geometry. No photograph of hardware exists.

Where it starts

Two beachheads. Both set a shape and hold it.

Deployable Structures

Stow compact. Take a commanded form on deployment. Hold it without power.

Reconfigurations: Few. Stow, deploy, and occasionally re-stow or retarget.
Dormancy: Long. Stowed geometry held unpowered until deployment.

Adaptive Tooling Surfaces

One surface that becomes the support, fixture or form for the next part.

Reconfigurations: Many. Once per part number, changeover, or revision.
Dormancy: Short to medium. Held for the length of a run, inspection, or layup.

Both applications in detail

Roadmap

Resolution is the roadmap.

R1
Programmable surfaces
funded scope
A single layer of ShapeCells on the Shape Dock, commanded as a sheet whose curvature and folds software sets and the cells hold.
R2
Planar smart material
research
Cells small and dense enough that the sheet behaves as a material with programmable in-plane and out-of-plane form, rather than as an array of parts.
R3
Volumetric smart material
research
Cells stacked and connected in three dimensions so a volume, not only a surface, takes commanded form.
∞Destination
Fully programmable smart materials
destination
Matter whose shape is set the way pixels set colour.

What each tier buys, and what is still open

Founders

Four co-founders. Columbus, Ohio.

Chris Vogt
Co-Founder
Government channel and defense relationships.
Nick Saris
Co-Founder
Capital, the STTR and NSF pipeline, and commercialization.
Anthony Bacopoulos
Co-Founder
Control software and the CAD-to-shape pipeline.
Abdulai Gassama
Co-Founder
Materials physics, mechanism design, and experimental validation.

Founders, advisors, and what we are not claiming

Questions

Short answers.

What is Nanoshape?

Nanoshape is a company in Columbus, Ohio, that is making shape programmable. It is developing Proteus, a shape-morphing mechanical metamaterial whose geometry software sets and the cells hold. Four co-founders run it, with advisors in defense, engineering and MEMS. Its first target applications are deployable structures and adaptive tooling surfaces, both of which set a shape and hold it.

What is Proteus?

Proteus is a shape-morphing mechanical metamaterial: one connected body of repeating ShapeCells whose geometry software sets and the cells hold. In the Proteus architecture, each ShapeCell has two mechanically stable geometries, software commands the cell states through the Shape Dock, and those states add up to folds, curves and strain across the sheet. Phase 1 Proteus is designed as a sheet that folds into three-dimensional form.

What stage is the technology at?

Nanoshape’s technology, Proteus, is in development. R1, programmable surfaces, is the funded scope. No performance figure Nanoshape publishes is a measured result: each is a design target or an architecture description, and no image is a photograph of hardware. Inverse design at large cell counts remains open. R2 and R3, planar and volumetric smart material, are research tiers, not funded scope.

Meet with us.

Tell us what your work needs to change shape and hold. We will tell you plainly whether R1 fits it.

Meet with us nick@nanoshape.ai

Each cell is one small decision. The compiler makes them in order, and the shape appears.