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Nanoshape

Roadmap

Resolution is the roadmap.

A display gets better as its pixels get smaller and more numerous. Proteus gets better the same way: finer cells, more of them, in more dimensions.

Tiers

Four rungs. One is funded.

  1. 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.

    What it buys
    Set-and-hold surfaces for the two beachheads: adaptive tooling surfaces and deployable structures.
    Still open
    Calibrating the mapping from commanded state to measured shape across a full array.
  2. 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.

    What it buys
    Sheets that are cut, mounted and reconfigured like stock material.
    Still open
    Cell miniaturisation, addressing at density, and inverse design at large cell counts.
  3. R3

    Volumetric smart material

    research

    Cells stacked and connected in three dimensions so a volume, not only a surface, takes commanded form.

    What it buys
    Programmable solids: parts whose geometry is a software state.
    Still open
    Three-dimensional connectivity, load paths through stacked cells, and addressing a volume.
  4. ∞Destination

    Fully programmable smart materials

    destination

    Matter whose shape is set the way pixels set colour.

    What it buys
    Shape as a software-defined property of physical objects.
    Still open
    Everything above, at scale.
Open problemR2 and R3 are research tiers. They are not solved, and they are not in the funded scope. Source: Nanoshape design specification, September 2026.

How to read it

Each tier is a claim we have to earn.

R1 is the funded scope. It is where the architecture has to prove itself: cells that latch, a dock that commands them, and a mapping from commanded state to measured shape.

R2 and R3 depend on things nobody has shown yet at the scale they need, including inverse design at large cell counts, which remains open. We name them because they are where the architecture leads, not because they are close.

The destination is matter whose shape is set the way pixels set colour. Every rung below it is useful on its own.

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 usnick@nanoshape.ai