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♤ Programmable matter refers to matter which has the ability to change its physical properties (shape, density, moduli, optical properties, etc.) in a programmable fashion, based upon user input or autonomous sensing. Programmable matter is thus linked to the concept of a material which inherently has the ability to perform information processing.
♤ In one school of thought the programming could be external to the material and might be achieved by the "application of light, voltage, electric or magnetic fields, etc." For example, in this school of thought, a liquid crystal display is a form of programmable matter. A second school of thought is that the individual units of the ensemble can compute and the result of their computation is a change in the ensemble's physical properties. An example of this more ambitious form of programmable matter is claytronics, where the units in the ensemble "compute" and the result is a change in the shape of the ensemble.
♤ Metamaterials, Claytronics, cellular automata, quantum wells are all examples of programmable matter.