Shape-morphing structures are at the core of future applications in aeronautics¹, minimally invasive surgery², tissue engineering³ and smart materials⁴. However, current engineering technologies, based on inhomogeneous actuation across the thickness of slender structures, are intrinsically limited to one-directional bending⁵. Here, we describe a strategy where mesostructured elastomer plates undergo fast, controllable and complex shape transformations under applied pressure. Similar to pioneering techniques based on soft hydrogel swelling^6,7,8,9,10, these pneumatic shape-morphing elastomers, termed here as ‘baromorphs’, are inspired by the morphogenesis of biological structures^{11,12,13,14,15}. Geometric restrictions are overcome by controlling precisely the local growth rate and direction through a specific network of airways embedded inside the rubber plate. We show how arbitrary three-dimensional shapes can be programmed using an analytic theoretical model, propose a direct geometric solution to the inverse problem, and illustrate the versatility of the technique with a collection of configurations.

形状变形结构是航空业¹，微创外科手术²，组织工程³和智能材料⁴未来应用的核心。但是，当前的工程技术基于对细长结构厚度的不均匀驱动，本质上仅限于单向弯曲⁵。在这里，我们描述了一种策略，其中介孔结构的弹性体板在施加的压力下会经历快速，可控制和复杂的形状转换。类似于基于软水凝胶膨胀^{6,7,8,9,10的}开创性技术，这些气动的形状变形弹性体（在这里被称为“ baromorphs”）受到生物结构形态发生的启发^{11,12,13,14,15}。通过嵌入橡胶板内部的特定气道网络来精确控制局部增长率和方向，可以克服几何形状上的限制。我们展示了如何使用解析理论模型对任意三维形状进行编程，提出了反问题的直接几何解决方案，并通过一系列配置说明了该技术的多功能性。