Biomimetics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems as models for the design and engineering of materials and machines. It involves the design of fundamental engineering systems in a way that applies solutions that have evolved in the natural world.
A recent article in the IET's main member magazine, Engineering and Technology, provides a good survey of this technology with a number of examples. The article shows that in some cases there can be a direct translation of a naturally "designed" solution into the human designed system while in other cases the benefit of mimicking a biological solution appears to be as a metaphor to drive lateral thinking towards a solution that applies "human" technology in a novel way. However biomimetics is applied, it appears to be attracting a significant academic involvement and generating some interesting engineering solutions.
A small part of the article describes a tribological application: a hypothetical car tyre that presents low rolling resistance in normal conditions but deploys "claws" when ice is detected in the road surface. Professor Julian Vincent of the University of Bath runs the research group that developed this concept. The Centre for Biomimetics and Natural Technologies does not appear to have an online presence but there is plenty to be found on the web generally.
Similar-looking research is also under way at Cambridge University and was presented at the recent Mission of Tribology Research in London. That project seeks to replicate the very powerful but controllable adhesive properties of insect feet in a human-engineered system.
Can naturally-evolved designs be applied to improve or replace human-evolved designs like the rolling bearing? Can we as tribologists learn anything from biomimetics that will help us to improve the optimisation of friction, lubrication or wear within a commercially viable engineering system? Perhaps most importantly, have any biomimetic tribological solutions made it to market or does it remain an academic curiosity?
If you would like to share any thoughts or answers to these questions, please register for IET MyCommunity, join the Tribology Network online group and post your reply below.