Using nature’s design principles to create new technology

Humans have always looked to nature for inspiration to build more efficient products – bionics or biologically inspired engineering has long since moved on from the first attempts to mimic nature. Its design principles are applied in many medical fields to improve health technology. How has bionics evolved in recent years and what is its approach to sustainability?

When we hear the term bionics, our collective memory has formed positive associations. The prevailing view is that anything that takes its cue from the natural world can only be good. However, bionics is more than just positive aspects and features. In fact, researchers must also meet essential criteria.

For a bionic invention to be viewed as sustainable, researchers should live up to the pledge of bionics, which roughly includes these criteria: the product should have near-natural function, but not just in the sense of "it’s copied from nature". It should also conserve natural resources and attempt to be ecologically sustainable. If we look to nature, it is easy to see that if humans did not interfere, it would be a circular economy that continually reuses resources. Things we would dispose of as waste products – such as dried leaves – are repurposed in nature and become mulch, for example. Technical products do not automatically embrace a purely circular economy. Nevertheless, scientists can try to meet some other criteria and requirements and put their best foot forward.

One approach that contributes to sustainability is called "optimization versus maximization". Nature shows us that it doesn’t always have to be about a maximum benefit, meaning you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. Instead, it helps to further enhance the current benefit. Consequently, products remain adapted to their environment and still yield the desired result, instead of fulfilling a maximum purpose and probably not being properly adapted to the environment.

A good example of this is the invention of Dr. Radwanul Hasan Siddique of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Yidenekechaw J. Donie and Dr. Guillaume Gomard of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The wings of a butterfly inspired the trio to boost the principles of photovoltaics. Pachliopta aristolochiae, also known as the common rose is a swallowtail butterfly with deep black wings, which allow the species to perfectly absorb sunlight – a feature that is interesting for photovoltaic systems. In 2018, the research team succeeded in transferring the respective nanostructures in butterfly wings to solar cells, thus enhancing their light absorption rate by up to 200 percent. The research team received the 2018 Bionic Award of the Schauenburg Foundation, which is endowed every two years for outstanding accomplishments in bionics.  

This invention is a prime example of how existing concepts are optimized thanks to bionics, thus maximizing utilization.

The 3D printing revolution also transforms the field of bionics. The process opens infinite possibilities of product design. This makes it easier to adapt products to the production plan, maximizes design flexibility and improves cost-efficiency. Since they more closely emulate the original template (think of the complex honeycomb design built by bees), they are also more robust and durable. It highlights one way to approach the issue since durability promotes greater sustainability.

We asked Professor Tobias Seidl of the Westphalian Institute of Bionics about the role 3D printing plays in bionics. Learn more about the fundamentals of bionics and discover the opportunities of 3D printing pertaining to these products in our Interview.

Adaptivity is another interesting mission of bionics. Professor Arnim von Gleich, Head of the Department of Technological Design and Development at the University of Bremen, abstracts "Survival of the fittest", a phrase that originated from Darwinian evolutionary theory: "Current tech solutions are typically geared towards very defined boundary conditions. If the boundary conditions change, the technical solutions fail." ¹

A second example of bionics shows that products can be applied in many fields. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) wanted to solve the following problem: modern artificial hip implants require the surgeon to drill a triangular pattern in the patient's bone – an elaborate and difficult procedure. If you take a closer look at nature, wood wasps (horntails) use their ovipositor to rasp these types of holes into hardwoods to lay their eggs. Admittedly, this is a much easier process for wasps than it is for surgeons.  

Researchers at the Fraunhofer IPA were inspired by the wood wasp and invented a unique drilling system. It can move cyclically in a pendulum stroke movement and can drill round holes and holes in the shape of a triangle, or any regular polygon. Here is the wasp’s process: its ovipositor consists of three independently movable parts, called valves. One of these valves attaches to the material, while the other two rasp away the material.

The bionic Sirex drill won multiple awards in 2017. Even though the drill was invented with surgery in mind to facilitate multidimensional optimization, it can also be used for construction or manual labor purposes. The drill might also assist work in space – a conventional drill needs contact pressure, which does not exist in zero gravity. In this case, the third valve of the innovative drill simply attaches to the material to enable drilling in space.

When it comes to sustainability, it helps if the product’s core concept results in an applicable solution for a variety of fields. Enter the product of 2020 Bionic Award winner Julien Dupeyroux of the Aix-Marseille University. His autonomously navigating robot takes its cue from desert ants. The robot can navigate in unknown territory without GPS. This biology-inspired navigation system can find its way in even the smallest of spaces. This results in "multiple applications for miniature robotics and microrobots," says Professor Antonia B. Kesel from the Bremen University of Applied Sciences and Chairperson of the VDI Bionics Department. ²

These examples show how bionics can take key steps towards sustainability. One thing to always remember is that developments, optimization, and adaptations of nature are most successful if creative freedom is fostered and maintained. Applied to bionics, this means that human beings should not put excessive limits on their ideas and capabilities. Having said that, humans are still subject to the limitations and principles of sustainability. Thanks to the bionics pledge, a minimum level of sustainability can be achieved by honoring its limitations and possibilities.

¹ Ökologisches Wirtschaften, 01/2006, p. 46, www.oekologisches-wirtschaften.de; 25.01.2021
² www.automationspraxis.industrie.de/wuestenameise-als-vorbild-fuer-autonomen-roboter; 25.01.2021