{{:: WHAT IS BIOMIMETICS? ::}} Updated!
*Chinny*:
BIOMIMETICS:
THE ABSTRACTION OF GOOD DESIGN FROM NATURE.
WHAT IS BIOMIMETICS?
Basically, biomimetics uses ideas and designs from nature and implements them into another technology or field such as engineering, design and computing. Plants and animals in nature present solutions to the same kind of problems that scientists and engineers confront today. As a result, biologists, designers and engineers are increasingly working together, using these solutions from the natural world. Another way of looking at the situation is to say that nature holds many answers for free. Why devise elaborate solutions when something can be borrowed from nature? If plants and animals are such successful machines, why should we not learn from then?
The concept is very old. The Chinese wanted to make artificial silk 2000 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci wanted to fly 400 years ago.
The trick is to understand the mechanisms and materials which we are trying to copy. Future advances in biomimetics rely on the collaboration of researchers working in different fields such as biology, physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering and the medical sciences.
VELCRO
The hook-loop fastener was invented in 1941 by Georges de Mestral, a Swiss engineer. The idea came to him after he took a close look at the Burdock seeds which kept sticking to his clothes and his dog's fur on their daily walk in the Alps, during the summer. He examined their condition and saw the possibility of binding two materials reversibly in a simple fashion. He developed the hook and loop fastener and submitted his idea for patent in 1951. De Mestral named his invention "VELCRO" after the French words velours, meaning 'velvet', and crochet, or 'hook'. The uses and applications of the product are numerous. Today, the VELCRO mark is the subject of more than 300 trademark registrations in over 160 countries.
THE EIFFEL TOWER
In the early 1850’s anatomist Hermann von Meyer was studying the part of the femur that inserts into the hip joint. The femur head extends sideways into the hip socket, and so it bears the body’s weight off-centre. It was found that the load is supported due to the existence of a tiny lattice arrangement of bones on the head of the femur called trabeculae.
Swiss engineer Karl Cullman showed that the trabeculae were effectively a series of studs and braces arranged along the lines of force generated when standing and that this was one of the most efficient ways of supporting off-centre weight, a finding that underscores the benefits of taking designs from nature.
The basic concept of building along the lines of force inspired French structural engineer Gustave Eiffel to design the tower that bears his name. Eiffel used a lattice of studs and braces to support the curved structure of the tower, similar to the way that the trabeculae support the curves in the head of the femur. So biomimetics enabled a structure to be designed that was capable of efficiently supporting a structure with an off-centre load distribution. The same principle was used to design the World Trade Centre and other skyscrapers.
ROBOLOBSTER
Lobsters have a keenly developed sense of smell, which they use to detect and trace the odor of their food to its source in the ever-turbulent ocean. Scientists working in a new field known as biomimetic robotics believe that humans can solve real-world problems by dissecting this and other forms of animal intelligence, and then using that knowledge to design, build, and program autonomous machines with similar superhuman capabilities. Eventually, such robots could be used to track and pinpoint underwater sources of pollution, detect and locate mines and other unexploded ordnance, and even troll the ocean's depths for thermal vents and other locations offering untapped natural resources.
Biomimeticists do not usually copy nature exactly. For one thing, as part of living creatures, biological designs generally must be compatible with ambient temperatures and other life-friendly conditions. Biomimetic designs are free of these constraints so they can go beyond nature. For example, feathers insulate birds as well as help them to fly. Hence, it would be misplaced to simply copy the shape of a feather when designing the wings of an aeroplane. A fundamental point of biomimetics is more advantageous to understand the principles of why things work in nature than to slavishly copy details.
Linked*to*Universe:
O0
Quote
biomimetics uses ideas and designs from nature and implements them into another technology or field such as engineering, design and computing. Plants and animals in nature present solutions to the same kind of problems that scientists and engineers confront today. As a result, biologists, designers and engineers are increasingly working together, using these solutions from the natural world.
excellent field....very interesting find.... O0 O0
!! jäÿësh lövë !!:
GR8 INFO YINGER O0 O0 O0
ksana:
:)
+k for your interest ...and for the details with pics....
Manish2:
biologists, designers and engineers are increasingly working together, using these solutions from the natural world. Another way of looking at the situation is to say that nature holds many answers for free
good info +K Chinny O0
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