Systematic design of biologically-inspired engineering solutions (original) (raw)

A Systematic Approach to Biologically-Inspired Engineering Design

Volume 9: 23rd International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology; 16th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference, 2011

To facilitate systematic biologically-inspired design, a design methodology that integrates with function-based design methodologies has been formalized. The goals of this methodology are to go beyond the element of chance, reduce the amount of time and effort required for developing biologically-inspired engineering solutions, and bridge the seemingly immense disconnect between the engineering and biological domains. Using functional representation and abstraction to describe biological systems presents the natural designs in an engineering context and allows designers to make connections between biological and engineered systems. Thus, the biological information is accessible to engineering designers with varying biological knowledge, but a common understanding of engineering design methodologies. Two approaches to validation are presented. One examines current biologically-inspired products either in production or in literature to see if the systematic approach to biologicallyinspired design can reproduce the existing designs. The second investigates needs-based design problems that lead to plausible biologically-inspired solutions. This work has demonstrated the feasibility of using systematic design for the discovery of innovative engineering designs without requiring expert-level knowledge, but rather broad knowledge of many fields.

Perspectives on biologically inspired design: introduction to the collected contributions

Biologically inspired design (BID) or biomimicry consists of using biological principles to inform engineering designs and applications. As both a method and goal, BID therefore cuts across many disciplines that currently are organized around functional criteria (e.g. mechanical engineering) or levels of inquiry (e.g. cell biology). Two challenges arise from this disjunction: (1) Recognizing the fields, problems and applications for which BID has or can have an impact;

EDITORIAL: Perspectives on biologically inspired design: introduction to the collected contributions

Bioinspir Biomim, 2007

Biologically inspired design (BID) or biomimicry consists of using biological principles to inform engineering designs and applications. As both a method and goal, BID therefore cuts across many disciplines that currently are organized around functional criteria (e.g. mechanical engineering) or levels of inquiry (e.g. cell biology). Two challenges arise from this disjunction: (1) Recognizing the fields, problems and applications for

Biologically inspired design: process and products

Design Studies, 2009

Biologically inspired engineering design uses analogies to biological systems to develop solutions for engineering problems. We conducted a study of biologically inspired design in the context of an interdisciplinary introductory course on biologically inspired engineering design in Fall of 2006. The goals of this study were to understand the process of biologically inspired engineering design and to provide insight into biologically inspired design as a type of design activity. This paper provides a descriptive account of biologically inspired design processes and products, and summarizes our main observations: 1) designers use two distinct starting points for biologically inspired design; 2) regular patterns of practice emerge in biologically inspired design; and 3) certain errors occur regularly in the design process.

A methodology for the generation of biomimetic design concepts

Systems found in nature provide a large database of strategies and mechanisms that can be implemented in biomimetic designs. Although several biomimetic design strategies are currently available, the generation of a successful design concept is still challenging. A major challenge is the absence of a systematic selective design methodology that is capable of identifying the relevant systems and then abstracting their strategies and mechanisms. In this paper, some existing biomimetic design strategies applied for nature emulation are analysed. As an outcome, a methodology for the generation of biomimetic design concepts is developed. The design methodology selects dominant strategies that function simultaneously in nature and provides selective user-friendly tools, which facilitate the generation of preliminary design concepts. An example for the generation process of a design concept is presented.

Abstracting biology for engineering design

International Journal of Design Engineering, 2011

The natural world provides numerous cases for analogy and inspiration in engineering design. Biological organisms, phenomena and strategies provide insight into sustainable and adaptable design and offer engineers billions of years of valuable experience, which can be used to inspire engineering innovation. This research presents an approach that may be used for repeatable functional model generation of biological organisms at multiple levels of abstraction, and discusses how biological functional models afford designers a systematic approach to biology-inspired design. The functional model representation translates the biological information into an engineering context enabling engineering designers with varying biological knowledge, but a common understanding of engineering design methods, to utilise biology for design inspiration. Thus, the biological information is accessible to designers. An example of lichen is provided to illustrate the multiple levels of abstraction of biological functional models.

Classification of Bio-Design Applications: Towards a Design Methodology

Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference, 2018

Bio-design is a novel frontier in design research. So far no methodology has been concieved for biodesign. A methodology would render the field more accessible by those without deep biology knowledge. Existing bio-design applications were reviewed and a novel classification scheme was proposed. The classification scheme forms the initial step towards the design methodology and is also a key contribution to the emerging field of bio-design.

Evaluating biological systems for their potential in engineering design

Advances in Natural Science, 2010

A team of biologists, engineers, and cognitive scientists has been working together for the past five years, teaching an upper level undergraduate course in biologically inspired design where half the class of forty students are biologists and other physical scientists and the other half are engineers (mechanical, materials, industrial, others). From this experience, we provide insights on how to teach students to evaluate biological systems for their potential in engineering design. We have found that at first, students are not familiar with ...

A computational approach to biologically inspired design

The natural world provides numerous cases for analogy and inspiration in engineering design. During the early stages of design, particularly during concept generation when several variants are created, biological systems can be used to inspire innovative solutions to a design problem. However, identifying and presenting the valuable knowledge from the biological domain to an engineering designer during concept generation is currently a somewhat disorganized process or requires ex- tensive knowledge of the biological system. To circumvent the knowledge requirement problem, we developed a computa- tional approach for discovering biological inspiration during the early stages of design that integrates with established func- tion-based design methods. This research defines and formalizes the information identification and knowledge transfer processes that enable systematic development of biologically inspired designs. The framework that supports our computa- tional design approach is provided along with an example of a smart flooring device to demonstrate the approach. Bio- logically inspired conceptual designs are presented and validated through a literature search and comparison to existing pro- ducts.

Modeling Biological Systems to Facilitate Their Selection During a Bio-Inspired Design Process

2015

The bio-inspired design process implies a multiplicity of actors. Engineers and biologists are usually among them. Mobilize cross-disciplinary and/or highly specialized biologists is a complex task and tools have been developed to address this specificity of the biomimetic approaches. However, the selection of biological model(s) of inspiration does not appear to have yet been tackled. This paper aims at proposing a way to define a benefit/effort ratio for considered biology to technology analogies, which should allow designers to sort these analogies on their own, easing the global biomimetic process. For such need, the paper presents a model revolving around the concepts of ideality and resources coupled with Living System Theory principles. The thorough analysis proposed here shows a consideration on what biological systems are, particularly for a bio-inspired design purpose. This analysis feeds the discussion on how biological systems could be appropriately modeled in order for ...