BioInspired! So What? Now What!

Goel, A. K., McAdams, D. A., & Stone, R. B. (2013). Biologically Inspired Design: Computational Methods and Tools. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.

About this Book:

• Outlines the state of the art in bioinspired design methods and the outstanding research questions in the field thus clarifying what can be done, what can be done, and what needs to be done
• Contains contributions by a diverse set of leaders in the field that provide existing methods to conduct bio-inspired design
• Provides detailed, specific, and formal methods for how to use nature as inspiration for engineering design thus enabling the design practitioner to apply such methods to their design problems
• Includes chapter relevant URLs, examples and a range of figures an diagrams to illustrate and explain methods and their design and research applications

Susana Soares interviewed Julian Vincent, professor of Biomimetics at the University of Bath and director of Biomimetic and Natural Technologies.   The 11.5 minute video clip starts with a discussion about how to "get engineers to get back into biology" while retaining the value of building mechanisms and prototypes.  Although computer design is becoming popular, Vincent argues that computers "do what you tell them" while a prototype "might go out of control, with a bit of luck, and you learn something."  Rather than considering their designs as isolated from other systems, Vincent has suggested in Biomimetics: its practice and theory that even technical solutions are part of larger systems and need to take those system complexities into consideration.