BIONICS & BIOMIMICRY

R.Pradeep,
Department of ECE,
B.I.T.Institute of Technology, HindupurEmail: bharatpradeepkiran@gmail.com
Abstract
During recent years bionics, a new discipline which is in
charge with the transfer of the principles of construction,
regulation, interaction and organization of biology into
innovative technical solutions has attracted significant
interest from various industries. Based on this request for
bionic expertise in engineering, the faculty for teaching
engineering in foreign languages (FILS) at 'Politehnica'
University of Bucharest started a course in bionics in SS
2007, which was supported by the expertise of the
German Bionik-Kompetenz-Netz', one of the leading
organizations in bionics. This is the report on the
considerations involved in the course concept, the first
experiences with the students' acceptance, some
conclusions and future perspectives for extending bionics
activities at 'Politehnica'. Finally, within the last section,
the evaluation of a questionnaire, filled in by the students
at the end of the course, will be presented. In order to
avoid any confusion, considering overlapping or mixing
up with other bio-disciplines related to technology, the
paper starts with a short introduction, explaining the
principles of bionics and providing a clear definition of
the field.
Keywords: bionics; teaching concepts; course evaluation
.

When pressed with an engineering problem,

humans often draw guidance and inspiration from the
nature, more recent examples of biomimetic designs are
well documented.
For example
- birds and bats played a central role in one of the more
triumphant feats of human engineering, the construction
of an airplane. In the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci
sketched designs for gliding and flapping machines based
on his anatomical study of birds. More than 300 years
later, Otto Lilienthal built and flew gliding machines that
were also patterned after birds . Sadly, Lilienthal died in
one of his own creations, as he failed to solve problem of
how to steer and maneuver. The wing warping mechanism
that enabled Orville and Wilbur Wright to steer their
airplane past the cameras and into the history books is
said to have been inspired by watching buzzards soar near
their Ohio home

1. Introduction to BIONICS
ROBOTICS is the science and technology
of designing, making; controlling, programming and
applying robots. A ROBOT is a mechanical or artificial
intelligent agent. It is usually an electromechanical
system, which, by its appearance or movements, conveys
a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The
meaning of Bionics is From bi (as in life) + onics(as in
electronics); Therefore The study of mechanical
systems that function like living organisms or parts of
living organisms .

2. Bionics: Biological insight into

Mechanical design

.
It is perhaps not surprising that early aeronautical
engineers were inspired by Nature given that the
performance gap was so large and obvious. Because birds
can fly and we cannot. Most engineering projects,
however, take place successfully without any explicit
reference to Nature, in large part because natural analogs
do not exist for most mechanical devices. One would need
to search far and wide for a natural analog of a toaster.
Nevertheless, in recent years there seems to be growing
interest on the part of engineers to borrow design
concepts from Nature. The discipline has grown to the
point that books, articles, conference sessions, and

university programs labeled Bionics or Biomimetic are

quite common.. As in the case of aerodynamics,
biomimetic approaches appeal to robot cists, because the
performance gap between mechanical devices and their
natural analogs is so large
. One reason for the growing interest in Bionics is that
fabrication methods are much more sophisticated than
they used to be. Because of innovations in Materials
Science, Electrical Engineering, Chemistry, and
Molecular Genetics, it is possible to plan and construct
complicated structures at the molecular or near
molecular level. Examples include buck balls, nanotubes,
and the myriad of micro- electromechanical devices
(MEMs) constructed with technology derived from the
silicon chip industry. Integrated circuits themselves play a
role in Bionics projects aimed at constructing smart
materials or mimicking the movement, behavior, and
cognition of animals. In short, biological structures are
complicated, and we are only now beginning to possess a
sophisticated enough tool kit to mimic the salient features
of that complexity.

Another reason for the increasing popularity of Bionics is

simply that we know much more about how plants and
animals work than we used to. The overwhelming
success of Biology, practiced at the cellular and sub
cellular levels, has overshadowed many substantial
advances in our knowledge of processes that operate at
higher levels of biological complexity. Taking examples
from studies on animal locomotion, biologists now
understand how basilisk lizards walk on water (4), how
penguins minimize drag (5), and how insects manage to
remain airborne (6, 7), phenomena that, until recently,
were poorly understood. The solutions to such puzzles do
not impact the world of Science as does, say, sequencing
the human genome.. The fields of Biology that use
principles of Structural Engineering and Fluid Mechanics
to draw structurefunction relationships are Functional
Morphology or Biomechanics (8). These disciplines are of
particular use to Bionics engineers, because the behavior
and performance of natural structures can be
characterized with methods and units that are directly
applicable to mechanical analogs. Biomechanics is hardly
new; Galileo used physical principles to explain why the
limb bones of large mammals are proportionally stouter,

compared with those of small mammals. In his classic

book, On Growth and Form, Darcy Thomson used
physical laws to explain developmental patterns in a
variety of plants and animals. In recent years, however,
Biomechanics has become increasingly sophisticated,
aided by a battery of techniques including x-ray
cinematography, atomic-force microscopy, high-speed
video, son micrometry, particleimage velocimetry, and
finite element analysis.
One lesson from biomechanical studies is that the salient
features of a biological structure can reside entirely within
its static morphology. A number of successful biomimetic
designs are based on the clever morphology of biological
materials. A simple and well- known example is Velcro,
invented by George de Mestral, who was inspired by the
hours wasted pulling burrs off his dogs fur after walks in
the Swiss countryside. He devised the complementary
hook and loop surfaces that have been holding our jacket
cuffs together ever since.
Another example of a clever morphology is the lotus leaf.
Although they live above muddy water and cannot
actively groom themselves, lotus leaves remain pristine
and dirt free. The self-cleaning ability of lotus leaves
results from the tiny, wax-coated protuberances on their
surface (9). When water falls on a leaf, it does not spread
out and wet the surface, as it would on the smooth leaves
of most plants, but rather forms tiny beads atop the
knobby surface that collect dust and dirt as they roll off. A
brand of paints (Lotusan, ISPO), is now available that
makes use of a patented Lotus-Effect to clean your
house whenever it rains.
As do many fast-swimming marine organisms, sharks pay
a large metabolic cost to overcome the drag on their body
surface. The skin scales of some sharks possess tiny
ridges that run parallel to the longitudinal body axis. The
grooved body surface reduces drag through its influence
on the boundary layer (10). Rib let sheets, modeled on
shark skin, and reduced the fuel consumption of an Airbus
320 when placed over the wings and fuselage. As the
above examples show, engineers and designers can mimic
and utilize biological structures, provided that it is
possible to fabricate the artificial material with the
precision required to produce the desired effect. A number
of successful biomimetic designs are based on the clever
morphology of biological materials

3. Applications of BIONICS
2

There are many applications of bionics which are

discussed here

3.1 Smart living spaces :

To allow persons with chronic physical /cognitive
disabilities, namely elderly and Disabled, to stay
home and live by themselves "Intelligence" built
in appliances Number of sensors embedded in the
environment or worn by the person:

To anticipate the person needs and

intentions

For monitoring and diagnosis by off-site

persons (Cardiac and respiratory cycles,
arterial pressure, Temperature, motion
detectors)

Issues
Wireless technologies
Pervasive computing
Miniature and wearable sensors to measure

3.4

Orthopedics
- Small size/footprint - minimal obstruction
- Close proximity to surgical site
- No patient/anatomy immobilization
- No tracking/real-time repositioning
- Small workspace - fine positioning device
- Potentially higher accuracy
- Intrinsic safety due to small size/low power

Physiological parameters
Human movement / behavior interpretation
(Speech, facial expression, gestures)

3.2 Personal assistants

Healthcare through robots-pets and humanoids
Robot-pets interact with human beings to make
them feel emotional
Attachment
Useful to relax, relieve mental stress, and
exercise for physical rehabilitation
Elderly, chronically ill children
Robot therapy, Mental commitment robot"

3.3Humanoids

4. Biomimesis

Humanoids are supposed to help people in the

daily life:
assistance in housework
-entertainment
Healthcare delivery

4.1 Introduction

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature,

its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or
take inspiration from in order to solve human problems.
The term Biomimicry and biomimetics come from the
Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis. meaning to
imitate. Other terms often used are bionics, bioinspiration, and biognosis.

Biomimicry is the exploration of principles observed in

nature that we can learn from and apply within design.
A conscious strategy by designers to observe and learn
principles of design from nature. Janine Banyus
.

4.2 Need for BIOMIMICS

Provide design methodologies and techniques to
optimize engineering products and systems
autonomous or semi-autonomous tasks
reconnaissance

Modeling the front-end of the train after

the beak of kingfishers, which dive
from the air into bodies of water with
very little splash to catch fish
resulted quieter train.
15% less electricity use even while the
train travels 10% faster.

5.2 Self cleaning, stain repellent walls

Now, microscopically rough surface additives
have been introduced into a new generation of
paint, glass, and fabric finishes, greatly reducing
the need for chemical or laborious cleaning.

For example, GreenShield, a fabric finish made

by G3i based on the "lotus effect", achieves the
same water and stain repellency as conventional
fabric finishes while using 8 times less harmful
fluorinated chemicals.

De-mining for small, insect-like robots and

human interaction tasks at a larger scale.

5.3 Human safety

A number of successful biomimetics designs
are based on the clever morphology of
biological materials

5. Applications of BIOMIMICS

5.1 Transportation
The Shinkansen Bullet Train of the
West Japan Railway Company is the
fastest train in the world, traveling 200
miles per hour.

Learning from Dolphins How to Warn People about

Tsunamis
Transmitting data through miles of water has
proven difficult, however: sound waves, while
unique in being able to travel long distances
through water, reverberate and destructively
interfere with one another as they travel,
compromising the accuracy of information.
Dolphins are able to recognize the calls of
specific individuals ("signature whistles") up to
25 kilometers away, demonstrating their ability
to communicate and process sound information

accurately despite the challenging medium of

water.
Emulating
dolphins'
unique
frequencymodulating acoustics, a company called
EvoLogics has developed a high-performance
underwater modem for data transmission, which
is currently employed in the tsunami early
warning system throughout the Indian Ocean

material where it's not needed, optimizing their

structure for their dynamic workloads
Engineers used these concepts learned from trees
and bones in software design programs, such as
Claus Matteck's Soft Kill Option software,
Using these programs to design cars, for
example, has resulted in new vehicle designs that
are as crash-safe as conventional cars, yet up to
30% lighter

5.4 Energy
Learning from Humpback Whales How to Create
Efficient Wind Power
Wind tunnel tests of model humpback fins with
and without tubercules have demonstrated the
aerodynamic improvements tubercules make,
such as an 8% improvement in lift and 32%
reduction in drag, as well as allowing for a 40%
increase in angle of attack over smooth flippers
before stalling
A company called WhalePower is applying the
lessons learned from humpback whales to the
design of wind turbines to increase their
efficiency, while this natural technology also has
enormous potential to improve the safety and
performance of airplanes, fans, and more

5.5 Industrial Design

5.6 Energy efficiency

Learning from Nature How to Create Flow Without
Friction
Naturally flowing fluids, gases, and heat follow a
common geometric pattern that differs in shape
from conventional human-made rotors. Nature
moves water and air using a logarithmic or
exponentially growing spiral

Learning from Trees and Bones How to Optimize

Strength and Material
Trees engineer themselves in a number of ways
to maximize their strength, such as arranging
their fibers to minimize stress and adding
material where strength is needed (take a look at
the extra material beneath a heavy branch, for
instance).

Bones unlike trees in that they must carry

moving loads go a step further by removing

Inspired by the way Nature moves water and air,

PAX Scientific Inc. applied this fundamental
geometry to the shape of human-made rotary

devices for the first time, in fans, mixers,

propellers, turbines and pumps.
Depending on application, the resulting designs
reduce energy usage by a staggering 10-85%
over conventional rotors
Noise reduction up to 75%.

12. References
Text books

Romei, Francesca (2008). Leonardo Da

Vinci. The Oliver Press.
[2] Howard, Fred (1998). Wilbur and Orville: A
Biography of the Wright Brothers. Dober
Publications.
[1]

WEBSITES
1. www.wikipedia.org
2. www.biomimicryinstitute.org
3. www.bionics.org