Mechanical Metamaterials for Sports
Tennis and padel equipment vibrates and flexes on every impact. AMbelievable uses 3D-printed mechanical metamaterials — structures engineered through their internal geometry — to explore how lightweight sports accessories can influence that response. Our goal is not to eliminate every vibration, but to understand which responses matter and design around them.
The material is only the beginning.
Performance,
engineered from within.
What if we could change how sports equipment behaves without simply changing what it's made of? At AMbelievable™, we engineer the structures inside our products to influence how they flex, vibrate and respond to impact. By combining mechanical metamaterials, computational engineering and advanced 3D printing, we turn geometry into a powerful design tool — creating lightweight sports equipment solutions with a more intentional mechanical response.
We take a different approach.
Same material. Different behavior.
Imagine two objects made from the same polymer. One is solid. The other contains a precisely engineered network of interconnected cells. They share the same base material, yet they can respond very differently to compression, bending and vibration. By changing the geometry, dimensions and arrangement of these cells, we can influence how a structure deforms, distributes forces and interacts with vibration. We don't just select material properties. We design structural behavior.
Every impact tells a different story.
When a tennis ball hits a racquet, the entire system responds. The strings oscillate, the frame bends and twists, and different vibration modes are excited simultaneously. These motions happen at different frequencies and contribute in different ways to the racket's mechanical response, sound and perceived feel.
The same principle applies to other sports equipment, although each application has its own mechanics. And here's what matters: not every vibration needs to be eliminated. Some mechanical responses provide useful feedback. Others may contribute to unwanted oscillations or sensations. Rather than treating vibration as a single problem, we investigate its individual components — and engineer structures designed to influence the responses that matter for a particular application.
The goal isn't simply less vibration. It's a more intentional response.
Beyond a single resonance.
A major development within our technology platform is MRML, our proprietary approach to multi-resonant mechanical metamaterials. Conventional uniform lattices repeat substantially the same geometry throughout a structure. MRML introduces a different design principle.
Within one continuous lattice, distinct regions can be engineered with different geometric parameters, producing different local dynamic characteristics and resonant frequencies.
By integrating these differently tuned regions into a single monolithic structure, we can design components intended to interact with multiple frequency ranges. This creates new possibilities for addressing complex vibration spectra without requiring the assembly of multiple separate damping devices. The essential insight is straightforward:
One integrated structure. Multiple engineered responses.
Real physics.
The next generation of sports equipment starts inside.
The way equipment feels and responds doesn't have to be determined solely by conventional materials or traditional manufacturing methods. We believe internal geometry can become an increasingly important dimension of product engineering — enabling structures designed around specific mechanical objectives.
AMbelievable brings that approach to athletes.
Phynamics provides the underlying technology for developing it further.