PowerPoint Presentation (2220 KB)

The Biomimetics Network for Industrial Sustainability (BioNIS) defines biomimetics as design inspired by nature - an enabling discipline which looks towards nature for ideas that may be adapted and adopted for solving problems.  The Biomimicry Institute launched Ask Nature as a biomimicry design web portal - the world's first digital library of Nature's solutions, organized by function, to serve as an educational and cross-pollinating tool and encourage collaboration between biologists, engineers, designers and other innovators.

Technological areas in which biomimetics is applied include:

Drag reduction and antifouling

• Emily Ralston and Geoffrey Swain, Bioinspiration - the solution for biofouling control?, Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 1 March 2009, 4(1), 015007 (9 pp).
• FastSkin swimsuits reduce drag by mimicking shark skin (Pelagic Shark Research Foundation)
• VV Pavlov, Dolphin skin as a natural anisotropic compliant wall, Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, 2006, 1(1), 31-40.
• Shark inspired non-toxic coatings for non-fouling marine applications (University of Florida Brennan Research Group, 4 October 2006.
• DaimlerChrysler Benz DCX Bionics car, and longer version from Composites News Supersite
• "Gone fishin': Mercedes-Benz engineers took a few dips in their search for the perfect model for their Bionic Car, Daimler Chrysler Hightech Report 2/2005.
• Airbus Germany undertook experiments with a self-adhesive foil designed to mimic shark skin and tested in the 1990s on the A340 passenger aircraft. Fine grooves on the surface decreased air resistance sufficiently to reduce fuel consumption by about 3%.  However, the gains "were cancelled out by two factors. First, maintenance costs for the foil were too high, and second, it was too heavy". [Kristina Patschull, Bionics, Deutschland Online, 13 May 2005]

Lotus effect

• The Lotus effect (ThinkQuest)
• Comparison between hydrophobic structured and smooth surfaces
• William Thielicke, Bionik  1.6MB animated gif  1.6MB avi file  3.04MB avi file  3.1MB avi file
• Satoshi Osawa, Masaki Yabe, Makiko Miyamura and Katsumi Mizuno,
  Preparation of super-hydrophobic surface on biodegradable polymer by transcribing microscopic pattern of water-repellent leaf,
  Polymer, 17 May 2006, 47(11), 3711-3714.

Nano Air Vehicle mimicking a maple seed

• Nano Air Vehicle Floats Like Maple Seed (Technovelgy.com)

µMist™ spray technology for nebulisers, needle-free injections, fire extinguishers and fuel injection systems

• Beetles Inspire a New Generation of Technology, EPSRC PN: 51/07, 26 September 2007

Mouldboard plough

• Luquan Ren, Shiqiao Deng, Jingchun Wang and Zhiwu Han, Design principles of the non-smooth surface of bionic plow moldboard, Journal of Bionics Engineering, March 2004, 1(1), 9-19.
• Li Jian-Qiao, Sun Jiu-Rong, Ren Lu-Quan and Chen Bing-cong, Sliding resistance of plates with bionic bumpy surface against soil, Journal of Bionics Engineering, December 2004, 1(4), 207-214.
• Deng Shi-Qiao, Ren Lu-Quan, Liu Yan and Han Zhi-wu, Tangent resistance of soil on moldboard and the mechanism of resistance reduction of bionic moldboard, Journal of Bionics Engineering, March 2005, 2(1), 33-46.

Platelet Technology^TM for pipeline sealing

• Brinker Technology Platelet Technology^TM: animation
  • video: 10 mm leak in 330 mm diameter pipe (4.33 MB .wmv file)
  • 200 mm diameter line with eleven 1.5 mm corrosion pits (9.51 MB .wmv file)
  • 10 mm line with 0.3mm diameter leak (456 KB .wmv file)
• Pipeline leak-sealing technology, Ingenia, June 2006, (27), 18.
• Klaire Evans, Sealing solutions, Ingenia, December 2006, (29), 41-45.

Temperature control

• Patrick Bellew, Going underground (thermal mass energy storage systems by analogy with termite nests), Ingenia, 2006, 28, 41-46.
• 'Smart-fabric' which adapts to changing temperatures, inspired by pine cones (GizMag)

Velcro and gecko tape

• Velcro
• Gecko tape (NewScientist.com)
• Gecko-Inspired High-Friction Micro-Fibres (NetComposites, 25 August 2006).
• Fabian Acker, Synthetic Gecko, Ingenia, March 2007, (30), 38-42.

Others

• Artificial cricket hairs to help deaf people, Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends, 21 June 2005.
• Biomineralisation as a route to composites repair, University of Delaware Center for Composite Materials, 21 February 2006.

Recommended reading:

• Yoseph Bar-Cohen (editor), Biomimetics: Biologically Inspired Technologies,
  Taylor and Francis/CRC Press, 2005.  ISBN: 0-849331-63-3.  UOP Library
• Janine M Benyus, Biomimicry - Innovation Inspired by Nature,
  Perennial (HarperCollins), New York, 1997.  ISBN 0-06-053322-6.  UOP Library
• Peter Forbes, The gecko's foot: bio-inspiration - engineered from nature,
  Fourth Estate (HarperCollins), London, 2005.  ISBN 0-00-717990-1.  UOP Library
• Robert Frenay, Pulse: How Nature Is Inspiring the Technology of the 21st Century,
  Little-Brown, December 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0316640510.
• Mike Hansell, Built by Animals: The Natural History of Animal Architecture,
  Oxford University Press, Oxford, 18 October 2007. ISBN-13: 978-0-19-920556-1.
• Paul Hawken, AB Lovins and LH Lovins, Natural Capitalism - The Next Industrial Revolution,
  Earthscan Publications, London, 1999. ISBN 1-85383-461-0.  UOP Library
• Philip Nelson, Biological Physics: energy, information, life (updated first edition),
  WH Freeman, 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0-716-79897-2
• Peter Pearce, Structure in Nature is a Strategy for Design,
  MIT Press, Cambridge MA & London, 1978.  ISBN 0-262-16064-1.
• FE Round, RM Crawford and DG Mann, The diatoms: biology & morphology of the genera,
  Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990. ISBN 0-521-36318-7.  ISBN-13: 978-0-521-71469-3. UOP Library
  Detailed electron microscope images to make any nanotechnologist green with envy!
• Chris Smith (editor), Biomimetics: technology transfer from biology to engineering,
  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 15 February 2002, 360(1791).
• Bharat Bhushan (editor), Biomimetics I: functional surfaces,
  Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 28 April 2009, 367(1893).
• Bharat Bhushan (editor), Biomimetics II: fabrication and applications,
  
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 13 May 2009, 367(1894).
• D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson (edited by John Tyler Bonner), On growth and form
  Cambridge University Press, c1961. ISBN 0-521-06623-9.  UOP Library
• JFV Vincent, Structural Biomaterials (revised edition)
  Princeton University Press, August 1990. ISBN-10: 0691025134. ISBN-13: 978-0691025131.  UOP Library
• JFV Vincent, OA Bogatyreva, NR Bogatyrev, A Bowyer and A-K Pahl, Biomimetics: its practice and theory,
  Journal of the Royal Society of London - Interface, 22 August 2006, 3(9), 471-482.
• Steven Vogel  Comparative Biomechanics - Life's Physical World,
  Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford, 2003.  ISBN 0-691-11297-5.  UOP Library

or for some shorter items, see:

• Biomimicry (Janine Benyus)
• Biomimicry (CBC .. seventh interactive feature)
• Biomimicry Institute
• What is biomimetics ? (University of Bath)
• What is biomimetics ? (University of Reading)
• BIOMIME (Swedish Center for Biomimetic Fiber Engineering)
• Biologically-Inspired Product Development (University of Maryland)
• Carlo Menon, European Space Agency Advanced Concept Team (ESA ACT) on biomimetics, 23 January 2006 including 5 minute Podcast
  • BIONICS2SPACE ! Bionics & Space System Design  with options to search the Bionics Systems database or Knowledge map database
• "Nature's Wisdom", 2005 World Exposition, Aichi - Japan, 25 March to 25 September 2005.
• Richard Bonser, A design for life, Materials World, April 2005, 13(4), 21.
• Luke Hutson, Go forth, and multiply, Materials World, April 2005, 13(4), 22-24.
• David R Butcher, Engineers Look to Nature for Inspiring New Tricks, ThomasNet.com Industrial Market Trends, 19 July 2006.
• Rudy Koopmans, Back to nature, Materials World, October 2007, 15(10), 30-31.
• Fran Kurk and Curt McNamara (edited by Theresa Gaffey), Better by Design - An Innovation Guide: Using Natural Design Solutions, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 2005/06  (2.08 MB PDF file).
• Tom Mueller, Biomimetics: Design by Nature, National Geographic, April 2008.
• Kristina Patschull, Bionics, Deutschland Online, 13 May 2005.
• Kate Ravilious, Borrowing from nature's best ideas - from super-advanced glue to shimmering lipstick, the simplest living things are providing the inspiration for futuristic materials, Guardian Unlimited, 31 July 2007.
• Ian Salusbury, Bone in contention,  Materials World, April 2005, 13(4), 25-27.
• KH Sandhage et al, Merging biological self-assembly with synthetic chemical tailoring: the potential for 3-D genetically engineered micro/nano-devices (3-D GEMS), International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology, 2005, 2(4), 317-326."Technology that imitates nature", The Economist, 9 June 2005.

Advanced Composites Manufacturing Centre School of Engineering Faculty of Technology University of Plymouth Plymouth  PL4 8AA  United Kingdom