SnapGami: frustrated sheets with controllable pathways

Crumpled sheets and amorphous media alike are geometrically frustrated systems, which under slow driving exhibit sequences of hops between their metastable states. These rearrangements encode memory effects as well as emergent computing but are difficult to control due to the highly disordered and uncontrolled geometry of these systems. Here we introduce an experimental platform that combines the geometric control of origami with the multistability of frustrated sheets, and which allows (to precisely and reproducibly) control and couple multiple bistable hysteretic elements: snappigami/crumpigami. We demonstrate that the geometry of the origami controls the switching thresholds, while the relative positions of the bistable elements set their interactions, giving rise to pathways inaccessible to systems of independent hysterons. Our work opens a new way for origamis with path-dependent behaviors.