Mechanical mechanisms have been used to process information for millennia, with famous examples ranging from the Antikythera mechanism of the Ancient Greeks to the analytical machines of Charles Babbage. More recently, electronic forms of computation and information processing have overtaken these mechanical forms, owing to better potential for miniaturization and integration. However, several unconventional computing approaches have recently been introduced, which blend ideas of information processing, materials science and robotics. This has raised the possibility of new mechanical computing systems that augment traditional electronic computing by interacting with and adapting to their environment. Here we discuss the use of mechanical mechanisms, and associated nonlinearities, as a means of processing information, with a view towards a framework in which adaptable materials and structures act as a distributed information processing network, even enabling information processing to be viewed as a material property, alongside traditional material properties such as strength and stiffness. We focus on approaches to abstract digital logic in mechanical systems, discuss how these systems differ from traditional electronic computing, and highlight the challenges and opportunities that they present.

几千年来，机械装置一直被用来处理信息，著名的例子包括从古希腊人的 Antikythera 装置到查尔斯·巴贝奇 (Charles Babbage) 的分析机。最近，由于具有更好的小型化和集成潜力，计算和信息处理的电子形式已经取代了这些机械形式。然而，最近引入了几种非常规计算方法，它们融合了信息处理、材料科学和机器人技术的思想。这提高了新的机械计算系统的可能性，这些系统通过与环境交互和适应环境来增强传统电子计算。在这里，我们讨论使用机械机制和相关的非线性作为处理信息的手段，着眼于一个框架，其中适应性材料和结构充当分布式信息处理网络，甚至使信息处理被视为材料属性，以及传统材料属性，如强度和刚度。我们专注于机械系统中抽象数字逻辑的方法，讨论这些系统与传统电子计算的不同之处，并强调它们带来的挑战和机遇。