Applications

# Start where changing shape already creates value.

Both beachheads set a shape on the dock and hold it off the dock. One changes shape rarely and waits a long time. The other changes often and holds for a run.

Beachhead A

## Deployable Structures

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

A deployable structure spends most of its life waiting and must then take one exact shape. A latched ShapeCell array holds its stowed geometry with no power draw and changes only when commanded.

**Reconfigurations over service life:** Few. Stow, deploy, and occasionally re-stow or retarget.

**Dormancy:** Long. Stowed geometry held unpowered until deployment.

**Disturbance profile:** Transport vibration and shock while stowed; environmental and service loads once deployed.

### Where it applies

- Reconfigurable single-curvature reflector and aperture surfaces
- Shelters and enclosures
- Stowable panels and fairings

> **Architecture:** Application profile. Describes the intended use, not a deployed product.

Fig. 01 — Deployable Structures, latched geometry

> **Concept render:** Generated geometry. No photograph of hardware exists.

Beachhead B

## Adaptive Tooling Surfaces

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

High-mix production keeps one dedicated fixture or form per part geometry. A programmable surface takes each part's geometry from CAD, holds it for the run, and reconfigures for the next.

**Reconfigurations over service life:** Many. Once per part number, changeover, or revision.

**Dormancy:** Short to medium. Held for the length of a run, inspection, or layup.

**Disturbance profile:** Part weight, probe and process contact loads while holding.

### Where it applies

- Inspection and metrology fixturing
- Assembly and board support
- Layup and forming surfaces

> **Architecture:** Application profile. Describes the intended use, not a deployed product.

Fig. 02 — Adaptive Tooling Surfaces, latched geometry

> **Concept render:** Generated geometry. No photograph of hardware exists.

Market context

## Adaptive tooling enters markets that already spend on fixed tooling.

Third-party estimates, quoted with their publishers. They size the spend that adaptive tooling surfaces address. They are not Nanoshape revenue projections.

**$7.5B → $12.3B** — Global jigs and fixtures, 2024 to 2034

> **Source:** Reports and Data, jigs and fixtures market report

**$13.3B** — Industrial metrology

> **Source:** Grand View Research, industrial metrology market report (2024)

**≈48%** — Share of industrial metrology held by coordinate measuring machines

> **Source:** MarketsandMarkets, coordinate measuring machine market report

Out of scope

## Not this phase.

- Continuous actuation. Proteus reconfigures on the dock and holds; it is not a motion system.
- Grippers, robotics and wearables. Possible later uses of the same primitive, not Phase 1 products.
- Flight-certified hardware.
- Consumer products.

Questions

## Short answers.

### What will Proteus be used for first?

Proteus is designed to serve two set-and-hold applications first: deployable structures and adaptive tooling surfaces. A deployable structure would stow compact, take a commanded form on deployment and hold it. An adaptive tooling surface would take the geometry each part needs, hold it for the run, and reconfigure for the next part. Both would change shape on the Shape Dock and hold it off the dock.

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Canonical: https://www.nanoshape.ai/applications  
Last updated: 2026-10-06

Figures on this site are design targets or architecture descriptions, not measured results. Inverse design at large cell counts is an open problem. No image on the site is a photograph of hardware. All pages: https://www.nanoshape.ai/llms.txt