LAUSR

Significance The characteristics of bistable and multistable mechanisms are governed by their materials and design properties. Once fabricated, it has been not possible to program or tune their responses without changing their structure so far. Therefore, we demonstrate a magnetically guided strategy to precisely and predictably tune the properties of bistable elements without causing any structural or physical changes. This versatile strategy can induce bistability in monostable elements and vice-versa, modulate the energy barrier between the two stable states, and reverse the direction of switching between the two stable states. Through experiments and simulations, we demonstrate the advantages of this strategy in various applications, including programmable transition waves and reconfigurable mechanical signal-processing devices.