Sources & further reading

Everything we relied on.

This site cites named sources only. Where a figure is a vendor's, it is tagged as a vendor claim in place; where no credible source exists (programmable-magnet market size), we say so instead of citing junk.

Primary — the company

polymagnet.com

Homepage, About Polymagnets, Applications, Offerings, Design Software (Polyvision), Magnetizers, Custom Solutions, FAQ, University, History, Management Team; Education/News posts and webinars; Demo Kit 1002031; datasheets 1002300 (twist-release) and 1002288 (spring / spring-latch).

NASA Prandtl-M release (via CMR's published article)

The verified deployment: five successful glider releases, Dec 2021 and Sept 2022 test campaigns.

Patents

US 7,800,471 — Field emission system

The cornerstone: coded force functions, ~10× off-alignment collapse. Filed 2008, granted 2010.

US 7,755,462 / 7,839,247 / 7,889,038 / 8,844,121 / 8,872,608 / 9,219,403 / WO 2010/141324

Ring codes, force profiles, code methods, manufacture, 1-D codes, shear-force transfer.

US 10,204,727 (+ 10,734,016 / 11,270,723)

Maxel writing — the MagPrinter family.

US 11,779,865 / 12,145,088 / 12,168,187 / 12,409,288

Coded-Polymagnet filter interconnects — parts that seat only when correct.

US 4,629,131 · US 3,127,544 · US 11,777,349 · US 2012/0021619

Coded-interlock precedent; early multipole prior art; Halbach aircraft motors; Apple's own coded-connector application.

Independent & encyclopedic

Wikipedia

Programmable magnet · Larry W. Fullerton · Halbach array · MagSafe.

K&J Magnetics blog — Halbach arrays

The independent force test: alternating-pole 88 lb vs plain 72–77 lb vs Halbach, same five cubes.

lynceans.org

The most thorough independent Polymagnet deep-dive.

magneticsmag.com · windpowerengineering.com · magnetics.com

MagPrinter and Mini MagPrinter launches; Amazing Magnets retail; IMI partnership and Max-Attach.

nextbigfuture.com (2009) · terramagnetica.com (2009)

Launch-era coverage of the Huntsville announcement.

SmarterEveryDay #153 (YouTube)

The canonical video introduction — viewing film, twist-release, the CMR lab.

crunchbase.com — Correlated Magnetics Research

Funding history (~$11.2–11.9M; Javelin, Capital Factory, SBIR).

Market & supply (the only market figures we cite)

MarketsandMarkets

Permanent magnets ~$58.9B (2025) → $88.5B (2030), 8.5% CAGR.

Grand View Research

Magnetic materials ~$33.8B → $48.2B.

Persistence Market Research

NdFeB ~$3.9B → $9.9B, ~14% CAGR.

IDTechEx

NdFeB ≈96% of rare-earth magnet demand.

IEA

China ~69% of rare-earth mining, ~90% of downstream magnet-making; April 2025 export controls (Dy/Tb/NdFeB).

Application sources

MED-EL · Cochlear · Levita Magnetics · UCSF (Magnamosis)

Medical: SYNCHRONY rotatable implant magnet, Baha Attract, FDA-cleared magnetic surgery, compression anastomosis.

Apple/WPC (MagSafe, Qi2) · Rosenberger (RoPD)

Consumer electronics and EV connectors.

Astroscale (ELSA-d)

Orbital magnetic capture/release demonstration.

OnRobot (MG10) · Magswitch · Industrial Magnetics

Robotics and industrial tooling.

IDEM

Coded magnetic safety interlocks.

Fidlock · Sugatsune · Häfele

Consumer fasteners and furniture hardware.

MIT (Nature 2018; Nature Communications 2024–25)

Programmable magnetization in soft robotics — the academic frontier.

Known gaps we flag rather than fill: no independent third-party force-testing suite of coded parts; coded-pair rejection ratios unpublished; the polymagnet.com logo wall (Tesla, Home Depot, US Navy, Missile Defense) unverified beyond NASA; the ONR SBIR / NASA SmCo coupler detail rests on a single secondary source.