IB 199 BioInspiration Spring 2011

New research shows that birds that are threatened by predators have special coping strategies involving their offspring. In the research when the bird was threatened its offspring were smaller, as expected, but surprisingly the offspring developed faster and grew longer wingspans than the normal sized birds. This seems to be a response to allow the young to fly earlier and faster in more dangerous regions than their counterparts in passive areas. Possible applications for this could be systems that are required to self replicate and adapt to the environment. More research in the way nature conducts this exactly is necessary, but maybe a self-repairing plastic that is aware of its condition knows to grow faster but weaker, or slower and strong depending on the environment. That would be smart, smart plastics.

This article provides a nice entry point to the field of biomimicry or biological inspiration. It gives 15 well-know and/or cool examples of biomimicry. However, there are so many more examples and after this article has been up for a few years (cannot find the exact date it was published) it feels a little outdated.

Nice find. Next time add a little bit more to your annotation. Do you see any disadvantages to this type of robot? How about applications?

An article about a new ventilation system based on the nasal passage of a bipedal kangaroo rat.

This represents ingenuity in nature. To prevent contact with a poisonous surface, macaws dip their feet in a special clay before grabbing for the fruit of the hura tree. The macaw also swallows this clay after ingesting this poisonous fruit. An application for this would be analysis of the clay to form an antivenom that doesn't require refridgeration. I was extremely intrigued by this.

This study has shown that some primates are possible more self-aware than we are giving them credit for. We knew from before they were able to distinguish themselves in a mirror; by putting paint on them and upon seeing themselves in a mirror attempting to whip it off. However now using different forms of testing we can see that they are very accurate in distinguishing their own actions from what was not their actions. Using a track-pad, a screen and rewards the primates were shown to have around 90% accuracy distinguishing their actions. Possibly understanding other species of self-awareness will help make our robots truly one day self-autonomous, if we so chose.

Hey guys, I found this short little site that has a bunch of cool applications of nature to architecture. Definitely worth your time if you're looking for an interesting read. Enjoy!

Hey guys! I found this site and it has several links to some biomimetics and in depth explanations of their inspiration and function. Hope you enjoy!

I found this website, it has a compilation of 14 really cool inventions all inspired by mother nature. Take a look and see if something will intrigue you, I spend a few minutes on it and i recommend it. My favorite was the one based off of humans teeth, but you will have to read to find out what teeth can inspire!

Shane, these are great examples. Some of them I had not seen before (and I have seen a large number of "top ten lists"). My favorite thing about the list was the comparison of bird feather color and beer foam...but that may be because I am sitting here all relaxed reading over the IB199 students' musings.

You know that the bible/religion and evolution can coexist? Don't have to denounce one over the other. Just keep admiring all that is around you.

This is a great article that was posted on Twitter by John McCann. Thank you! This relates to the material silk, which is a very useful naturally-made material. In my research, I came across a goat that was able to produce silk proteins in its milk thanks to science, but I never saw this. This article talks about how some researchers have been able to modify silkworms to produce a mix of silkworm/spider silk. This is much more sturdy than silk from a silkworm alone. It is better to be produced by a silkworm, because they are easier to raise and more efficient at producing silk. This is a great article to think about biomimicry.

This robot uses rhythmic neural activity to make the spine of the robot oscillate like a salamander. The salamander also serves as an effective model for an amphibious robot. The swaying motion helps for both terrestrial and aquatic locomotion.

A slide show of "biomimics." Annoying, but slow auto-play, however, there is a pause option at the top right of the pictures to allow for more time to read.

These are some fantastic pictures - a probably more up-to-date version of the "15-coolest-cases" article (this slide-show is from 2008). I had actually never seen the picture of the woodpecker-hammer. Can somebody make a list of inspirations and the products and put them in the comments? That way you do not have to sit through the slow-slide show if you are looking for something in particular. Think of this annotation section as a reminder for you about the site - what is in it and what you did (not) like about it.

Well this is the end of the semester and I thought that its time to wrap up the class so I am posting an article that I think wraps up this term very nicely. Enjoy.

This article involves using natural methods to control pests and prevent them from eating the rice crop. The article does a wonderful job explaining how important rice is in third world countries and worldwide. This article also explains how researchers teamed up to come up with this three step process. The article does not explain the processes in detail, though. All that it says about the actual mechanisms is :The integrated approach involves three key technologies: electronic insect traps that allow growers to estimate the number of insects in rice storage silos, aeration or refrigeration of silos to delay insect development, and 'modified atmosphere' with the use of carbon dioxide or nitrogen gas, again to slow down pest development. This article is interesting and informative on a big picture scale, but not for a detailed article.

Excellent annotation!

more on insect robots  

Can you "annotate" or "describe" this website a little bit more? What did you like about it, did it give you any ideas? The website of course promotes the HML (I like the logo?) but are there any weaknesses in their design - yes, the flying robot is very small - but it is no where near autonomous. So, try to convince your classmates to go visit the site by annotating it. And also see the annotation as a way for you remember in 1 year what you liked about the site , to determine it if is worth visiting again.

A deep-sea snails triple layer shell could provide insight for innovations in general military armor for tanks etc. and also body armor for military personnel.

This short article discribes the accomplishements in robotics made by Mirko Kovac, a robotics engineer. It goes into detail about his break-through in the "perching" methods that stemmed from his grasshopper-inspired robots. There is also a brief video clip that essentially describes the "perching" process of his robot. I was really amazed to find that these robots are actually programed to run into whatever object they are looking for without being harmed!