A microarchitectured material having a plurality of interconnected unit cells in 2D or 3D configurations. The permanent interconnections to adjacent unit cells include mechanical output structures driven by mechanical actuators. One or more sensors are preferably utilized, such as utilizing a sensing mode of the actuator, for detecting forces and or displacements applied to the unit cell. The unit cells are each controlled by a control circuit for generating drive signals to the actuators in the unit cell so that desired mechanical properties and/or shapes are exhibited by the microarchitectured material.