The idea of creating materials that embed computation is closely related to the concept of programmable matter, a term coined in 1991[3] by Toffoli and Margolus, describing dense arrays of computing elements that could solve complex finite-element like simulations of material systems, and then later developed to describe a class of materials consisting of identical, mobile building blocks, also known as catoms that are fully reconfigurable, therefore allowing materials to arbitrarily change their physical properties.