Biomimicry

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EST 200, Biomimicry
MEC
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Contents

• Introduction.
• Biomimetic Architecture.
• Biomimetic Approaches.
• Biomorphic Mineralization.
• Freeze Casting.
• Biorobotics.
• Biophilic Design.
• Examples.

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Biophysics is not so much a subject matter as it
is a point of view. It is an approach to problems
of biological science utilizing the theory and
technology of the physical sciences. Conversely,
biophysics is also a biologist's approach to
problems of physical science and engineering,
although this aspect has largely been
neglected. Otto Herbert Schmitt.
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Definition

• The design and production of materials,
  structures, and systems that are modeled on
  biological entities and processes.
• The science of applying nature-inspired designs
  in human engineering and invention to solve human
  problems.
• The imitation of natural biological designs or
  processes in engineering or invention.
• The practice of imitating life.

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Biomimicry Types

• Three types of biomimicry
• Copying form and shape.
• Copying a process, like photosynthesis in a leaf.
• Mimicking at an ecosystem level, like building a
  nature-inspired city.

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Inspirations from Nature

• Early example of biomimicry - study of birds to
  enable human flight.
• Leonardo da Vinci observed anatomy and flight of
  birds, made numerous notes and sketches on his
  observations sketched "flying machines".
• Wright Brothers succeeded in flying the first
  heavier-than-air aircraft in 1903, inspired by
  observations of pigeons in flight.

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Inspirations from Nature

• To reduce aircraft noise researchers have looked
  to the leading edge of owl feathers, which have
  an array of small finlets or rachis adapted to
  disperse aerodynamic pressure and provide nearly
  silent flight to the bird.
• Leg attachment pads of several animals, insects
  (e.g. beetles and flies), spiders and lizards
  capable of attaching to a variety of surfaces,
  used for locomotion, even on vertical walls or
  across ceilings.

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Inspirations from Nature

• Surfaces that recreate properties of shark skin
  enable more efficient movement through water.
• Efforts to produce fabric that emulates shark
  skin.
• Tree and torrent frogs and arboreal salamanders
  have toe pads wetted by mucus to attach to and
  move over wet or even flooded environments
  without falling.

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Inspirations from Nature

• Marine mussels can stick easily and efficiently
  to surfaces underwater under the harsh conditions
  of the ocean.
• Mussels use strong filaments to adhere to rocks
  in the inter-tidal zones of wave-swept beaches,
  preventing them from being swept away in strong
  sea currents.
• Self-sharpening teeth of many animals copied to
  make better cutting tools.

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Inspirations from Nature

• Spider silk is tougher than Kevlar used in
  bulletproof vests.
• Engineers to use such a material if reengineered
  to have a long enough life, for parachute lines,
  suspension bridge cables, artificial ligaments
  for medicine, and other purposes.
• Porous walls of termite mounds to design
  naturally ventilated façade with a small
  ventilation gap.

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Inspirations from Nature

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Inspirations from Nature
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Inspirations from Nature
Shinkansen Bullet Train looks like the beak of a
kingfisher
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Inspirations from Nature
200 miles per hour - still the fastest?

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Inspirations from Nature
We generally think of termites as destroying
buildings, not helping design them. But the
Eastgate Building, an office complex in Harare,
Zimbabwe, has an internal climate control system
originally inspired by the structure of termite
mounds.
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Inspirations from Nature

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Inspirations from Nature

Lotus Eco Bus Shelter inspired by water plants
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Inspirations from Nature

Parking Bay
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Inspirations from Nature

Solar Powered Bus Shelter looks like a mushroom
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Inspirations from Nature

Solar Powered Bus Shelter mimics plantain leaves
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Inspirations from Nature

Solar Powered Bus Shelter imitates bird wings.
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Biomimicry

• Emulation of the models, systems, and elements of
  nature for the purpose of solving complex human
  problems.
• Also called "biomimetics.
• A science concerned with the application of data
  about the functioning of biological systems to
  the solution of engineering problems.
• Living organisms have evolved well-adapted
  structures and materials over geological time
  through natural selection.

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Biomimicry

• Humans have looked at nature for answers to
  problems throughout our existence.
• Biomimicry has given rise to new technologies
  inspired by biological solutions at macro and
  nanoscales.
• Eg Study of birds to enable human flight.
• Nature has solved engineering problems such as
  self-healing abilities, environmental exposure
  tolerance and resistance, hydrophobicity,
  self-assembly, and harnessing solar energy.

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Biomimicry

• American biophysicist and polymath Otto Schmitt
  developed the concept of biomimetics during his
  doctoral research.
• Schmitt developed the Schmitt trigger by studying
  the nerves in squid, attempting to engineer a
  device that replicated the biological system of
  nerve propagation.
• Biomimicry was popularized by scientist and
  author Janine Benyus in her 1997 book Biomimicry
  Innovation Inspired by Nature.

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Biomimicry

• Biomimicry defined in the book as a "new science
  that studies nature's models and then imitates or
  takes inspiration from these designs and
  processes to solve human problems".
• One of the latest examples of biomimicry by
  Johannes-Paul Fladerer and Ernst Kurzmann by the
  description of "managemANT, a combination of the
  words "management" and "ant", describes the usage
  of behavioural strategies of ants in economic and
  management strategies.

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Biomimicry

• Diversity and complexity of biological systems
  large, hence the number of features that might be
  imitated is large.
• Nature's inhabitants including animals, plants,
  and microbes have the most experience in solving
  problem and have appropriate sustenance
  mechanisms.
• Biomimetic architecture seeks solutions for
  building sustainability present in nature.

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Biomimetic Architecture

• Recent advancements in fabrication techniques,
  computational imaging, and simulation tools
  opened up new possibilities to mimic nature
  across different architectural scales.
• Also referred to as Bio-decoration.
• Rapid growth in devising innovative design
  approaches and solutions to counter energy
  problems.

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Biomimetic Architecture

• One of the multidisciplinary approaches to
  sustainable design.
• Follows a set of principles rather than stylistic
  codes.
• Goes beyond using nature as inspiration for the
  aesthetic components of built form.
• Seeks to use nature to solve problems of the
  building's functioning and saving energy.

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Biomimetic Architecture

• Study and application of construction principles
  found in natural environments and species.
• Knowledge translated into the design of
  sustainable solutions for architecture.
• Uses nature as a model, measure and mentor for
  providing architectural solutions across scales,
  which are inspired by natural organisms.

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Biomimetic Architecture

• Uses nature as a measure, refers to using an
  ecological standard of measuring sustainability,
  and efficiency of man-made innovations.
• Use of formal and geometric elements found in
  nature, as a source of inspiration for aesthetic
  properties in designed architecture.

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Biomimetic Architecture

• Carried out in interdisciplinary teams.
• Biologists and other natural scientists work in
  collaboration with engineers, material
  scientists, architects, designers, mathematicians
  and computer scientists.
• Two approaches bottom-up approach (biology push)
  and top-down approach (technology pull).

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Bottom-Up Approach

• Starting point is a new result from basic
  biological research promising for biomimetic
  implementation.
• Eg developing a biomimetic material system after
  quantitative analysis of the mechanical,
  physical, and chemical properties of a biological
  system biology push.

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Top-Down Approach

• Biomimetic innovations are sought for already
  existing developments that have been successfully
  established on the market.
• Focus on improvement / further development of an
  existing product technology push.

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Biomorphic Mineralization

• A technique that produces materials with
  morphologies and structures resembling those of
  natural living organisms by using bio-structures
  as templates for mineralization.
• Selective uptake and deposition of minerals by
  controlling the solution pH.
• Facile, environmentally benign and economic.

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Freeze Casting (Ice Templating)

• An inexpensive method to mimic natural layered
  structures.
• Employed by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley
  National Laboratory to create alumina-Al-Si and
  IT HAP-epoxy layered composites that match the
  mechanical properties of bone with an equivalent
  mineral/organic content.

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Biorobotics

• Biorobots based on the physiology and methods of
  locomotion of animals.
• Bionic Kangaroo moves like a kangaroo, saving
  energy from one jump and transferring it to its
  next jump.
• Kamigami Robots, a children's toy, mimic
  cockroach locomotion to run quickly and
  efficiently over indoor and outdoor surfaces.

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Biophilic Design

• Recognizes that our species has evolved in
  adaptive response to the natural world.
• Seeks to connect our inherent need to affiliate
  with nature in the modern built environment.
• Uses materials available in nature.
• Seeks to satisfy our innate need to affiliate
  with nature in modern buildings and cities.

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Biophilic Design

• Attempts to create good habitat for people as
  biological organisms inhabiting modern
  structures, landscapes, and communities.
• Focuses on aspects of the natural world that have
  contributed to human health and productivity in
  the age-old struggle to be fit and survive.
• Emphasis on the overall setting or habitat, not a
  single/isolated occurrence of nature.

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Creative interplay of natural lighting,
spaciousness, plants, and water at the Central
Atrium, Genzyme Building, Cambridge. Biophilic
Design?
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• If the design focuses on aspects of the
  natural world that contribute to human health and
  productivity in the age-old struggle to be fit
  and survive, it is biophilic. The use of natural
  materials such as wood, and spaces that include
  natural geometries such as fractals and curves,
  can be highly evocative and satisfy biophilic
  design needs.
• 
  Stephen R. Kellert,
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  Professor Emeritus,
• 
  Yale University.

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Thank You