Bionics
The Bionics (also biomimicry , biomimetics or Biomimese ) is engaged in the transmission of natural phenomena on technology. A well-known example from history is Leonardo da Vinci's idea of transferring the flight of birds to flying machines. An example from the modern life is that of barnacles inspired Velcro . Bionics is based on the assumption that living nature develops optimized structures and processes through evolutionary processes, from which humans can learn.
As an interdisciplinary field of research, bionics attracts natural scientists, engineers, architects, philosophers and designers. Bionics is about systematic recognition of solutions from living nature; it thus distinguishes itself from purposeless nature inspiration. Their goal is always a technical object or process that is separate from nature, whereby bionics differs from sciences that use and expand biological processes, such as bioinformatics , biophysics and biochemistry . Bionics makes important contributions to the process of biologization .
Definitions
One of the founders of bionics, Werner Nachtigall , defined the term as follows:
“Bionics as a scientific discipline deals systematically with the technical implementation and application of constructions, processes and development principles of biological systems. This also includes aspects of the interaction between animate and inanimate parts and systems as well as the economic-technical application of biological organizational criteria. "
The first sentence of its definition coincides with that of the VDI - this describes bionics as follows:
“Bionics is understood to mean research and development approaches that pursue a technical application interest and, in the search for problem solutions, inventions and innovations, draw on knowledge from the analysis of living systems and transfer this knowledge to technical systems. The idea of transferring from biology to technology is the central element of bionics. "
Concept formation and history
The English term bionics was first introduced by the American Air Force Major Jack E. Steele in 1960 at a conference under the direction of Heinz von Foerster at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton , Ohio : 'Bionics Symposium: Living Prototypes - The Key to New Technology '. JE Steele, a neurologist in military service, derives the term from the Greek stem "bios" (life) and the suffix "-onics" meaning "study of". The German case word bionics is a combination of biology and technology .
In the English-speaking world , the meaning of bionic is mostly limited to the construction of body parts or - more generally - a combination of biology and electronics (also in connection with the idea of the cyborg ). What is referred to as bionics in German-speaking countries corresponds more to the term biomimetics or biomimicry in English . Since many authors are aware of the linguistic problem, the two terms bionics and biomimetics are now often used synonymously .
The Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci is usually cited as the historical pioneer of bionics, who in 1505 analyzed the flight of birds in his manuscript About Bird Flight and tried to transfer his findings to flying machines. The first German patent in the field of bionics was granted to Raoul Heinrich Francé in 1920 for a “new spreader” modeled on a poppy seed capsule . In 1948 the Swiss scientist Georges de Mestral developed the Velcro fastener based on the model of the burdock .
Ingo Rechenberg's 1964 lecture with the title: "Cybernetic solution control of an experimental research task" is considered a milestone in the history of bionics . Here he demonstrated the Darwin-in-the-wind tunnel experiment , in which a hinge plate folded into a zigzag shape evolves into a flat shape with the least resistance.
Economic consideration of bionics
Bionics is still a very young science, which is why its economic importance is still relatively small, but recently there has been more and more bionic work and interest in bionic developments is increasing. In recent years, more and more research results from bionics have flowed into the development of products, which shows the growing importance of bionics. Furthermore, the growing relevance of bionics is made clear by the steadily increasing number of projects funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the German Federal Environment Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Labor. In addition, many small companies are supported in research into bionics. As a result of these subsidies, many products have reached product maturity so that they can be marketed. An example of such a product is the Speedo swimsuit, which is similar to the structure of the shark skin and thus also reflects its advantages, such as lower water resistance.
Development and delineation
Bionics has only developed into an established scientific discipline in the last few decades, due in particular to new and improved methods (computing power, production processes, interdisciplinary considerations). When developing technical functional elements, engineers were not always aware of parallel developments in nature. The framework was developed without any knowledge of the fine structure of the trabeculae . Since there was no transfer of any kind, such formal or functional correspondences are referred to as correspondences and not as bionics.
Biomimetics or bionics as a scientific discipline, on the other hand, searches specifically for structures in nature that can be of technical importance as role models. This procedure can often be described as a pure analogy search . However, it often only allows small innovation leaps , since the technical application must already be recognizable.
Alternatively, certain structural or organizational principles can be described through basic biological research , which are only then recognized as suitable for transfer to technology. For example, based on the examination of the bone structure, new framework constructions (e.g. for stiffening double wall constructions) are developed. The knowledge about the non-wettability and self-cleaning of certain plant-based surfaces only later led to the development of such diverse industrial products as facade paint, roof tiles and awnings with the so-called lotus effect, and aerodynamics sought many stimuli in zoology.
The Bionic Learning Network is a research network of the Festo company with universities, institutes and development companies. The aim of the initiative is to produce new types of technology carriers through the application of bionics.
Bionics can be divided into different sub-areas: Construction bionics compares construction elements and their integrations, sensor bionics examines the systems for stimulus absorption, structural bionics analyzes biological structural elements, movement bionics drive mechanisms, surface influence and flow adjustment, neurobionics observes the natural transmission of information and transmission to IT systems, the Baubionik investigated complete structures of living organisms or their products, the devices bionics implements natural device structures, procedures bionics provides analytical study of biological processes such. B. Photosynthesis , climatic biomimetics is looking for systems for passive ventilation, cooling or heating, anthropobionics studies animal movements, often for use in robotics , evolutionary bionics transfers evolutionary processes to research (experimental trial-and-error development).
Basic approach
In analog bionics , a “top-down process” takes place: you define the problem, look for analogies in nature, analyze these analogies and finally look for solutions to the problem with the knowledge gained from nature. Examples:
- Airplane : Otto Lilienthal and the Wright brothers observed the flight ( locomotion ) of large birds and thus optimized their prototypes .
- Winglets at the ends of the wings of aircraft: large eddies at the wing tips of aircraft result in high fuel consumption, which can be reduced by around five to six percent through the use of winglets. Investigation of the wings of soaring / gliding birds as an airplane analogy. Description of the hand wings of certain bird species ( e.g. buzzard , condor and eagle ), which instead of one large vortex cause several smaller ones and thus consume less energy overall. Manufacture of artificial wings with several vortex shedding structures (winglets). Aircraft designers have further developed the winglets to a loop profile at the wing tip (split-wing loop) ( spiroid ). The example shows that at the end of an optimization, its bionic derivation does not always have to be visible.
- Development of new types of profiles for car tires : biological models are cat paws, for example, which widen when changing direction and thus have a larger contact area with the ground.
- Spider-like robots whose legs have autonomous control functions and are therefore superior to centrally controlled robots.
In abstraction bionics , a "bottom-up process" takes place: Basic biological research is carried out, the biomechanics and functional morphology of biological systems are examined, and an underlying principle is identified and described, this principle is abstracted (detachment from the biological model and translation into non-technical language), looks for possible technical applications and finally develops such applications together with engineers, technicians, designers, etc.
Examples:
- Non-wettability and self-cleaning of certain biological surfaces: The observation and closer examination of the fact that practically all water-soluble substances roll off a leaf of the lotus plant led to patents for extremely poorly wettable and self-cleaning surface structures (e.g. for a new artificial surface as facade paint), the lotus effect . See also: Waxes on plant leaves , for example from the lotus flower, kohlrabi , etc.
- Structural optimization of components ( CAO and SKO ): growth forms of trees or bones
- Riblet films: In fast swimming sharks , the skin surface consists of small, tightly packed scales. On these scales there are sharp-edged fine grooves that are aligned parallel to the flow. These microscopic grooves reduce the frictional resistance . This drag-reducing effect is effective in all turbulent flows, including air. Aircraft can be covered with a special film (so-called riblet film), which has a similar structure on the top and thus lowers the aircraft's air resistance . The scientific basis comes from studies on fossil sharks and their "scales".
- Adhesive hair and other adhesive devices on the surface of the feet of numerous animal species, as structured biological surfaces, are used as models for technical applications, up to and including the construction of an autonomous climbing robot
- The Velcro fastener was developed on the model of the Velcro fruits (Georges de Mestral, 1956).
- Swarm intelligence and ant algorithms transfer the behavior of insects and other animals living in communities or larger groups into technical areas.
Examples of correspondences between technology and nature
- Suckers are also found on octopuses and beetles .
- Sonar, or echo sounder , was used by dolphins and bats long before humans knew it .
- Slats of the aircraft: thumb wing of the bird's wing
- Propeller : wing fruit of the maple
- Constructions like the Eiffel Tower : The model for this is the beam structure of bones
- Flying wing : modeled on the fly seed of Zanonia macrocarpa
- Syringes : venomous stings from bees or hornets
- Swimming fins : webbed feet in frogs or water birds
- Jet engine and rocket propulsion : recoil principle in jellyfish and squid
- Atrapaniebla : Fog use of the fog drinker beetle
- Ventilation system : ventilation system in a termite den
- The hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity of the mist drinker beetle inspire the construction of a bottle that fills itself with water.
- Tubular steel towers of wind turbines : Grain stalks are the model
- Velcro fastener: The model is Velcro
See also
- Biosystem technology
- Evolutionary algorithms / evolution strategy
- Analogy technique
- Bio-aesthetics
- Bioeconomy
- Cybathlon
- Neurobionics
- Construction bionics
- Movement bionics
- Sensor bionics
Technical implementation:
literature
- Eberhard Forth and Eberhard Schewitzer (eds.): Bionics. Meyer's pocket dictionary. VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1976, DNB-Info .
- Werner Nachtigall , Kurt G. Blüchel : The big book of bionics. New technologies modeled on nature. DVA, Stuttgart and Munich 2000, ISBN 3-421-05379-0 (special edition 2003 under ISBN 3-421-05801-6 ).
- Werner Nachtigall: Bionics. 2nd Edition. Springer, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-540-43660-X .
- Torsten Rossmann, Cameron Tropea: Bionics: Current research results in natural sciences, engineering and humanities. Springer, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-540-21890-4 .
- Zdenek Cerman, Wilhelm Barthlott, Jürgen Nieder: Inventions of nature. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2005, ISBN 3-499-62024-3 .
- Antonia B. Kesel : Bionics. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16123-2 .
- Kurt G. Blüchel: Bionics. How we can use nature's secret blueprints. Goldmann, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-442-15409-X .
- Martin Zeuch: Bionics. WAS IST WAS , Volume 122. Tessloff, Nuremberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-7886-1509-3 .
- Lothar Brehmer: Nature - a pacemaker for aircraft development. Projekt-Verlag, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-86634-344-3 .
- Sigrid Belzer: Nature's most ingenious inventions. Bionics for children. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-596-85389-2 .
- Bionics. Awesome, of course. Main topic in the culture magazine Westfalenspiegel , issue 4/2011, pp. 14-27.
- Christian Johannsen: Potential energy savings through shark skin coating. In: Schiff & Hafen , Issue 9/2012, pp. 82–86, Seehafen-Verlag, Hamburg 2012, ISSN 0938-1643 .
- W. Barthlott, W. Erdelen, M. Daud Rafiqpoor: Biodiversity and technical innovations: bionics . In: Concept and Value in Biodiversity. Routledge Studies in Biodiversity Politics and Management . 2014, ISBN 978-0-415-66057-0 , pp. 300-315 .
- MC Demirel, M. Cetinkaya, A. Pena-Francesch, H. Jung: Recent Advances in Nanoscale Bioinspired Materials. In: Macromolecular bioscience. [electronic publication before printing] December 2014, ISSN 1616-5195 . doi : 10.1002 / mabi.201400324 . PMID 25476469 .
- Patricia Piekenbrock: Bionics. Learning from nature - impulses for innovation. Vogel Business Media, Würzburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-8343-3438-1 .
Web links
- There are very different bionics projects in terms of technical use in Festo Bionic Learning
- Bionics Competence Network (BIOKON eV)
- www.lotus-salvinia.de
- Bionics - Exhibition on buildings and projects by the architect Moti Bodek . International week, FHP University of Applied Sciences, Freiland Potsdam. 12-16 May 2014.
- Bionicum - Interactive exhibition on bionics in Nuremberg.
supporting documents
- ↑ Mutschler, H.-D .: Natural Philosophy . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2002, here: 120f.
- ↑ Werner Nachtigall: Bionics: Basics and examples for engineers and scientists. 2nd edition, Springer-Verlag Berlin / Heidelberg 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-18996-8 , p. 3.
- ^ VDI Association of German Engineers (publisher): VDI 6220 sheet 1. Bionics - conception and strategy - distinction between bionic and conventional processes / products . 2012.
- ↑ German Patent Office, No. 723730
- ↑ Rechenberg's lecture took place at the joint annual meeting of the WGLR and DGRR in September 1964 in the Berlin Congress Hall.
- ↑ Stanislav Gorb & Dagmar Voigt: Functional biological surfaces as models for technology. Performance. Double edition 2.2009 / 1.2010: 69–77. PDF download ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ BBC News about the American start-up company NBD Nano [1]
