Biomimicry and Tools/Machines
Figure 4: This chart shows examples of Biomimicry with tools and machines. Shown on the right are some examples of tools or machines that have been inspired by nature. On the left side are the inspirations found in nature.
We have been inspired by nature for more than just medicines and drugs, but the tools we use in the medical field as well. You may hear this referred to as “bioengineering.” For example, by studying marine worms that attach to substrates, scientists were able to be inspired and create a more effective surgical glue, or by studying the porcupine quill medical needles were inspired to be more effective. However, it is not just in the medical field that bioengineering is seen. When taking a look at the world around you, you may be shocked to realize how much of our world has been inspired by the natural world.
There are two ways that we are inspired by nature for technology: we may either be inspired by the function or the form of nature. During this part of the unit, I will be specifically talking about animals and their inspiration for human machinery and tools. When we are inspired by function, we are creating our machine or tool based on how that animal operates focusing more on behavior, while when we focus on the form we are inspired by how an animal may look or certain physical features that we would like to mimic. There are several animals that humans have been inspired by both in function and form.
Birds have been inspiring inventions for a very long time. Several different types of birds have been studied for many of our different airplanes as well as flight patterns. Airplanes and other flying machinery can be easily seen as one of the most obvious examples of biomimicry. The way that birds are shaped, how they use their wings, and how they sail through the air have all been studied and then mimicked in modern airplanes. Hummingbirds have been a major influence on hovering drones and how they operate. Hummingbirds are masters at moving quickly in any direction and floating or hovering over flowers to drink nectar. By studying their wing frequency, bioengineers were able to design drones to have this same ability. Another bird studied for its function as well as form was the Kingfisher bird. Kingfishers have the ability to plunge into the water, in search of food, without making a splash because of their long, pointed beaks. After studying this closely Japan’s 500 series Shinkansen train, a type of bullet train, was designed after the beak of the kingfisher. Mimicking the kingfisher’s beak, gave way for the train to move at a top speed of 186 mph and helps the train to be faster, quieter, and even more cost-effective because they require less fuel to use. As a last example of birds and how we have been inspired by them, let’s look at the Peregrine Falcon. The Peregrine Falcon is known as a hunting bird and can dive down to get its prey with astonishing speed and when they open their wings it helps to brake their speed to catch their prey. Using what was studied about the Peregrine Falcon inspired the B-2 Bomber plane. By mimicking the B-2 bomber off of the Falcon, the bomber mimicked the sleek shape and modernized body allowing the plane to reach high speeds quickly and quietly making the bomber hard to detect by radars. 10
Though not mentioned prior, the burdock plant has many different uses medically. However, the burdock burrs were also the inspiration behind what we know today as Velcro. George de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, went out hunting one day when he began to notice that burdock burrs were all over his pants as well as his dog’s fur. Regardless of his dog continuously rolling in the grass the burrs would not come off. George de Mestral decided to take a look at this specimen under his microscope to try and determine how it was defying gravity and sticking to not only his pants but to his dog as well. He later discovered that the burdock burrs have an interlocking mechanism that allows them to stay connected to a surface such as animals or cloth. In the wild, when the burdock burrs are sticking to animals, this is to get the seeds to spread about through the area to grow more burdock plants. George de Mestral was inspired to create by this to create what we know today as Velcro for clothes and other uses. 11
Let’s take a moment to discuss how we have been inspired by marine life to create machines that have a major impact on the human world. Many people are already aware that ducks’ webbed feet have been the inspiration for flippers which humans use to swim faster in water. However, many people are not aware of how many machines have been inspired by whales. Whales are an inspiration of both form and function when it comes to submarines, as well as wind turbines. Whales have the ability to move underwater with agility and ease due to their sleek bodies, which is why the design of the submarine is based on a whale. If you take a closer look the front of a submarine looks much like the head of the whale and in this front part of the submarine is where all of the mechanical hardwiring or “brain” of the submarine is housed. By studying the whale’s flippers, scientists noticed that the flippers have bumps on them called tubercles. These tubercles act as an aerodynamic agent that helps the whale to swim more efficiently in the ocean. When adding tubercle-like bumps to the backs of the fans on wind turbines it was noticed that wind turbines were more efficient and allowed for more electricity to be produced. Taking a look at one more marine life, beavers have inspired wetsuits. Contrary to whales, beavers and otters do not have layers of fat to keep them warm when they plunge into cold waters, yet they are still able to stay warm and even dry while in the water. Beavers and otters are able to trap warm pockets of air in their thick layers of fur which help to keep them warm and dry. By studying how this mechanism works in their body, bioengineers, and scientists were inspired to make suits for surfers who are constantly coming in and out of the water. 12
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