  Materials which feature bistable elements, hysterons, exhibit memory effects.
Often these hysterons are difficult to observe or control directly. Here we
introduce a mechanical metamaterial in which slender elements, interacting with
pushers, act as mechanical hysterons. We show how we can tune the hysteron
properties and pathways under cyclic compression by the geometric design of
these elements and how we can tune the pathways of a given sample by tilting
one of the boundaries. Furthermore, we investigate the effect of the coupling
of a global shear mode to the hysterons, as an example of the interactions
between hysteron and non-hysteron degrees of freedom. We hope our work will
inspire further studies on designer matter with targeted pathways.
