What is Biomimicry?

Bionics is an old and young discipline.

[fng shng xué]

Bionics is an old and young discipline.

People study the principles of the structure and function of objects, and invent new equipment, tools, and technologies based on these principles, and create advanced technologies suitable for production, learning, and living.

The term bionics was developed by the United States in 1960

Since ancient times, nature has been the result of various technical ideas, engineering principles and major inventions of mankind.

Bionics is a bridge connecting biology and technology.

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Electronic frog eyes are also widely used in airports and traffic arteries. At the airport, it can monitor the take-off and landing of the aircraft, and if it finds that the aircraft is about to collide, it can promptly issue an alarm. In the main traffic route, it can direct the movement of vehicles and prevent vehicle collision accidents.

Recent developments in bionics

Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) 1994

Bionics is an emerging marginal science that is a combination of biology, mathematics, and engineering technology.

The first bionics conference identified an interesting and visual sign for bionics: a huge integral symbol that "integrates" a scalpel and a soldering iron. The meaning of this symbol not only shows the composition of bionics, but also summarizes the research approaches of bionics.

The task of bionics is to study the excellent ability of biological systems and the principle of production, and to model it, and then apply these principles to design and manufacture new technical equipment.

The main research method of bionics is to propose models and simulate them .

Biological models in bionics

The research process has the following three stages :

The first is the study of biological prototypes . According to the specific issues raised in the production, the biological data obtained from the research will be simplified, the content that is beneficial to the technical requirements will be absorbed, and the factors unrelated to the production technical requirements will be eliminated to obtain a biological model;

The second stage is to mathematically analyze the data provided by the biological model and abstract its internal relations, and to "translate" the biological model into a mathematical model with a certain meaning using mathematical language ;

Finally, a physical model that can be used for experiments in engineering technology is manufactured according to the mathematical model .

Of course, in the process of biological simulation, not only simple bionics, but also innovations in bionics. After repeated practice-recognition-repetition, the simulated things can more and more meet the needs of production. As a result of such simulations, the final machine and equipment will be different from the biological prototype, and in some aspects will exceed the capabilities of the biological prototype. For example, modern airplanes exceed the flight capabilities of birds in many ways. Electronic computers are faster and more reliable than humans in complex calculations.

The basic research methods of bionics make it show a prominent feature in biological research, that is, integrity . From the perspective of bionics as a whole, it considers biology as a complex system that can communicate and control the internal and external environment. Its task is to study the interrelationships between the various parts of a complex system and the behavior and state of the entire system. The most basic feature of living things is the self-renewal and self-replication of living things. Their connection with the outside world is inseparable. Only when organisms acquire material and energy from the environment can they grow and reproduce; if they receive information from the environment, they constantly adjust and synthesize in order to adapt and evolve. The long-term evolution process has led to the unification of structure and function, and the coordination and unification of parts and the whole. Bionics can only be simulated if it has a quantitative relationship between graduate students' objects and external stimuli (input information), that is, focusing on the unity of quantitative relationships. To achieve this, satisfactory results cannot be obtained with any local method. Therefore, the research method of bionics must focus on the whole.

The research content of bionics is extremely colorful, because the biological world itself contains thousands of species, and they have various excellent structures and functions for various industries to study. In the past two decades since the birth of bionics, the research on bionics has developed rapidly and achieved great results. Its research scope can include electronic bionics, mechanical bionics, architectural bionics, and chemical bionics. With the development of modern engineering technology, there are many branches of disciplines, and corresponding bionic researches have been carried out in bionics. For example: the marine sector's research on hydrodynamics of aquatic animal movement; the aviation sector's simulation of bird and insect flight, animal positioning and navigation; engineering and construction's biomechanics simulation; the radio technology department's human nerve cells, sensory palace And neural network simulation; computer technology for brain simulation and artificial intelligence research. Typical topics presented at the first bionics conference were: "What are the characteristics of artificial neurons", "Problems in designing biological computers", "Identifying images with machines", "Machines for learning", and so on. It can be seen that the research on electronic bionics is extensive. The research topics of bionics mostly focus on the study of the following three biological prototypes, that is, the overall role of animal sensory organs, neurons, and nervous system. Later research on mechanical bionics and chemical bionics has also been developed, and new branches have appeared in recent years, such as human bionics, molecular bionics, and cosmic bionics.

In short, the research content of bionics, from molecular bionics to simulate the micro world to macroscopic bionics of the universe, includes a wider range of content. Today's science and technology is in a new era where various natural sciences are highly integrated, intersected, and infiltrated. Bionics combines the study and practice of life through simulation, and at the same time it has played an extremely important role in the development of biology. Great promotion. Under the infiltration and influence of other disciplines, the research of biological science has undergone a fundamental change in method; in terms of content, it has also deepened from the level of description and analysis to the direction of accuracy and quantification. The development of biological sciences uses bionics as a channel to transmit valuable materials and rich nutrition to various natural and technical sciences, and accelerate the development of science. Therefore, the research of bionics shows infinite vitality, and its development and achievements will make a huge contribution to the development of the overall science and technology of the world.