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Synonyms

Biomimicry; Bionics; Biognosis; Biotechnology; Bioengineering; Biophysics; Bio-inspired design; Biomimesis

Definition

Biomimetics is the study of how to apply the methods and principles found in nature to modern science and engineering.

Overview

Biomimetics has become a more modern approach in various fields of engineering design. Advocates of the field believe optimized solutions for ecological systems resulting from thousands of years of natural evolution can provide today's engineers with limitless applicable technologies. Julian Vincent, a well-established researcher and the director of the Centre for Biomimetics and Natural Technologies proclaims that there is only a 10% overlap between biology and technology in terms of the mechanisms used [1]. This vast technological potential has resulted in many innovative creations throughout history.

Possibly the most well-known application of biomimetics was by a Swiss inventor, George de Mestral, who observed the efficient manner...

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References

  1. Hooper R (2004) Ideas Stolen Right From Nature. Wired Nov 9. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/11/65642. Accessed 27 Nov 2007

  2. Vincent F, Bogatyreva O, Bogatyrev N, Bowyer A, Pahl A (2006) Biomimetics: its practice and theory. J R Soc Interface 3:471–482

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  3. Clark J, Cham J, Bailey S, Froehlich E, Nahata P, Full R, Cutkosky M (2001) Biomimetic Design and Fabrication of a Hexapedal Running Robot. Proc IEEE Int Conf Robot Automat 4:3643–3649

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  4. Menciassi A, Accoto D, Gorini S, Dario P (2006) Development of a biomimetic miniature robotic crawler. Auton Robot 21:155–163

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  5. Wendell D, Patti J, Montemagno C (2006) Using Biological Inspiration to Engineer Functional Nanostructured Materials. Small 2(11):1324–1329

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  6. Runyon M, Johnson-Kerner B, Ismagilov R (2004) Minimal functional model of Hemostasis in a Biomimetic Microfluidic System. Angew Chem Int Ed 43:1531–1536

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  7. Cho S, Moon H, Kim C (2003) Creating, Transporting, Cutting, and Merging Liquid Droplets by Electrowetting-Based Actuation for Digital Microfluidic Circuits. J MEMS 12(1):70–80

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag

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House, D., Li, D. (2008). Biomimetics. In: Li, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Microfluidics and Nanofluidics. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-48998-8_85

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