GENERALIZING THE BIOMIMETIC DESIGN PROCESS

Abstract

While many elegant solutions to engineering problems have been inspired by biological phenomena, it is not always clear how the particular biological phenomena were selected. The objective of this work is to develop a generalized methodology by which analogous biological phenomena can be identified and used for any design problem in a systematic manner. The chosen approach has been implemented in a computer search tool that locates in a biology text, instances of functional keywords describing the engineering problem. Analogies for case studies in design for remanufacture and microassembly as well as ongoing work will be summarized.