**1. Introduction**

Design inspired by nature, bionic design, biomimetism, biomimicry, or biologically inspired design, despite having been a source of inspiration for design activities for a long time, have recently, under pressure from sustainability concerns, gained a role as part of a standard set of approaches to deal with design problems. Nature provides an important model to find solutions to the ecological crisis. The aim of this chapter is to establish a comparison among a set of design methods, meant to guide industrial designers in carrying out activities leading to bio-inspired design. The results of literature review are presented, with emphasis drawn on existing documented approaches to design inspired by nature, and the presentation of the methods, on which a comparative analysis is established. The parameters for the comparative analysis are set out, based on five general goals that are considered applicable to design problems, within the realm of industrial design. The presentation and explanation of the comparisons is followed by a discussion on their implications for theory and practice.

The present day's urgency in achieving environmental sustainability has promoted renewed interest on gathering inspiration from nature in order to create novel design concepts. Design endeavours in several technical disciplines may lead to ground-breaking new concepts when natural systems are considered as a source of inspiration. The focus of this chapter is on joining a bio-inspired approach to the creation of industrial design engineering concepts with a systematic approach to design. The conduction of industrial design engineering projects is inherently structured and supported by methods set forth in the systematic design literature (e.g. Hales 1991, Hubka & Eder 1992, Roozenburg & Eekels 1995, Pahl & Beitz 1996, Ulrich & Eppinger 2004). Hence, in order to be useful and of practical value to the generation of industrial design engineering concepts, bio-inspired design methods should be able to fit into design endeavours that follow a systematic approach to design.

The main purpose of bionics is to carry out a benchmark of nature, of what it created, tested and has evolved over millions of years, in order to improve what man creates artificially (Benyus 1997). A number of design methods, intended especially to guide industrial designers in carrying out the development of biologically inspired design, have been proposed. The chapter establishes a comparative analysis between five methods, retrieved from literature. The methods are presented in similar depth, and the parameters of analysis

Biologically Inspired Design: Methods and Validation 103

In the following sub-sections, the origins and evolution of bionics are summarily reviewed, while recalling a few well known examples of bio-inspired design solutions. Arguing for the growing importance of design inspired by nature for industrial designers, the section ends with the presentation of five bio-inspired design methods that will come under scrutiny in

Although the terminology of this area of design is relatively recent – appearing for the first time in the U.S.A. in 1958, by the hand of Jack E. Steele (Lloyd, 2008) – the practice, creation and inspiration through learning about nature comes from the most remote and pre-historic times. Primitive human beings used bone harpoons, which were serrated on their edges, to

Leonardo da Vinci was probably the first systematic student of the possibilities of bionics (Lage and Dias, 2003). From the classical times of the Icarus legend, to the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, man's dream to fly originated in the observation of bird and insect flight. Leonardo da Vinci realized that the human arms were too weak to flap wings for a long time, and hence developed several sketches of machines he called ornitopters (Kindersley, 1995). Human flight would only be possible in the XXth century, with the aid of the internal combustion engine and the propeller, but the inspiration from nature is anyway at its onset. One of the most disseminated examples of bio-inspired design is Velcro, invented in 1948, by Swiss engineer George de Mestral, from inspiration he got while observing thistles and the way they got caught in his dog's tail and adhered to clothes. In current times, designers Luigi Colani and Ross Lovegrove have been instrumental in portraying the use of bionics in their creations. Colani became notorious by the use of biodynamic forms in products such as automobiles and airplanes, during the second half of the XXth century (Pernodet and Mehly, 2000). Lovegrove's designs typically demonstrate a link between organic shapes and material science (Lovegrove, 2004). While a bio-inspired approach to design may not represent a universal tool that is applicable to any problem, it may provide support to design activities (Colombo, 2007). A set of five bio-inspired approaches to design,

The goal of bio-inspired design methods consists in offering designers an organized process in order to attain a model that may be applied in design, inspired by the relations between form and function in nature (Colombo, 2007). Despite the success attained in several cases from the use of this approach in design, the bio-inspired design approach may still have room for improvement, in order to become more systematic. Five existing methods have

The design method presented in Table 1 emphasizes the importance of environmental and economical sustainability factors in the development and evaluation of the project by the designer. This method shows little support for organization problems. The method presented in Table 2 provides a detailed description of the procedures involved in natural sample collection and analysis. It also prescribes completely listing the working principles of the natural system. However, this method does not include any procedures concerning the design transfer of the features found in the natural samples. The design method presented in Table 3 gives emphasis to the product life cycle, by giving consideration to issues such as

improve their piercing ability. This feature was likely inspired by animal teeth.

documented in literature, are presented in the following sub-section.

been collected from literature and are presented in Tables 1 to 5.

the remaining sections of the chapter.

**2.2 Methods for bio-inspired design** 

**2.1 Origins and evolution of bio-inspired design** 

are also described. The five bio-inspired design methods discussed, following an analytical direction that involves seeking inspiration in nature to solve a given problem, were retrieved from literature and are summarily presented. These methods are analysed in this chapter with regard to their perceived capacity to support the satisfaction of the five chosen high level design aims. These aims were selected considering their high degree of perceived relevance to industrial design engineering problems. A critique of the bio-inspired design methods retrieved is laid out, informed by comparison between the methods regarding their ability to support the satisfaction of the goals. The analysis is based on the scrutiny of the five methods, in relation to the support given towards the satisfaction of five goals, considered of paramount importance, and which are present in typical design projects, albeit translated into a number of requirements, specific to the problem at hand. The comparative analysis is intended to support designers in the process of selecting a design method that is adequate to the problem at hand. The analysis also identifies goals where the methods considered offer no or reduced support for their satisfaction, hence identifying the need for novel methodological proposals. The need to integrate validation activities in the bio-inspired design processes is also emphasized as a result of the analysis and followed through by the proposal of explicit procedures for validation of the satisfaction of goals sought by those pursuing biologically inspired design. This approach is intended to enable the evaluation of outcomes attained with the use of bio-inspired design methods, offering methodological support to designers in order to pursue the validation of bio-inspired concepts generated by them. These validation procedures are demonstrated in a specific design case with the purpose of exemplifying the application of the validation steps proposed. The requirements initially considered for the development of the product functionality considered in the case are also presented and a solution that is proposed to fulfil these requirements, generated using a bio-inspired approach, is evaluated, according to the validation approach presented.

The deployment of the validation process proposed is done within an iterative design case, consisting of a novel CD rack, which draws inspiration form nature, as its main solution principle is inspired on the spider-web. The process of validation makes use of surveys, conceptual-analytical arguments and standard engineering design procedures.

### **2. Bio-inspired design**

The term bionic system, or bio-inspired systems, generally has two usual interpretations, concerning different application domains. The popular interpretation, based frequently on science fiction, is associated to more or less fantastic super-powers, to cybernetics and to robotic creations or additions to organisms. In this line of thought, bionics is presented as a science uniting biology and mechanics, producing devices that capacitate human beings with enhanced powers, whether to compensate for innate or acquired physical limitations, or for mere enhancement. Besides this interpretation, the term bionics is associated with the original meaning of biomimetism (bios – life, mimesis – imitation). According to Benyus (1997), biomimetism is a way to see and value nature, representing a novel mindset based not on what can be extracted from the natural world, but what can be learnt from it. This interpretation is the one of concern in this contribution. In this view, the main purpose of bionics is to carry out a benchmark of nature, of what it created, tested and has evolved over millions of years, in order to improve what man creates artificially.

are also described. The five bio-inspired design methods discussed, following an analytical direction that involves seeking inspiration in nature to solve a given problem, were retrieved from literature and are summarily presented. These methods are analysed in this chapter with regard to their perceived capacity to support the satisfaction of the five chosen high level design aims. These aims were selected considering their high degree of perceived relevance to industrial design engineering problems. A critique of the bio-inspired design methods retrieved is laid out, informed by comparison between the methods regarding their ability to support the satisfaction of the goals. The analysis is based on the scrutiny of the five methods, in relation to the support given towards the satisfaction of five goals, considered of paramount importance, and which are present in typical design projects, albeit translated into a number of requirements, specific to the problem at hand. The comparative analysis is intended to support designers in the process of selecting a design method that is adequate to the problem at hand. The analysis also identifies goals where the methods considered offer no or reduced support for their satisfaction, hence identifying the need for novel methodological proposals. The need to integrate validation activities in the bio-inspired design processes is also emphasized as a result of the analysis and followed through by the proposal of explicit procedures for validation of the satisfaction of goals sought by those pursuing biologically inspired design. This approach is intended to enable the evaluation of outcomes attained with the use of bio-inspired design methods, offering methodological support to designers in order to pursue the validation of bio-inspired concepts generated by them. These validation procedures are demonstrated in a specific design case with the purpose of exemplifying the application of the validation steps proposed. The requirements initially considered for the development of the product functionality considered in the case are also presented and a solution that is proposed to fulfil these requirements, generated using a bio-inspired approach, is evaluated, according

The deployment of the validation process proposed is done within an iterative design case, consisting of a novel CD rack, which draws inspiration form nature, as its main solution principle is inspired on the spider-web. The process of validation makes use of surveys,

The term bionic system, or bio-inspired systems, generally has two usual interpretations, concerning different application domains. The popular interpretation, based frequently on science fiction, is associated to more or less fantastic super-powers, to cybernetics and to robotic creations or additions to organisms. In this line of thought, bionics is presented as a science uniting biology and mechanics, producing devices that capacitate human beings with enhanced powers, whether to compensate for innate or acquired physical limitations, or for mere enhancement. Besides this interpretation, the term bionics is associated with the original meaning of biomimetism (bios – life, mimesis – imitation). According to Benyus (1997), biomimetism is a way to see and value nature, representing a novel mindset based not on what can be extracted from the natural world, but what can be learnt from it. This interpretation is the one of concern in this contribution. In this view, the main purpose of bionics is to carry out a benchmark of nature, of what it created, tested and has evolved over

conceptual-analytical arguments and standard engineering design procedures.

millions of years, in order to improve what man creates artificially.

to the validation approach presented.

**2. Bio-inspired design** 

In the following sub-sections, the origins and evolution of bionics are summarily reviewed, while recalling a few well known examples of bio-inspired design solutions. Arguing for the growing importance of design inspired by nature for industrial designers, the section ends with the presentation of five bio-inspired design methods that will come under scrutiny in the remaining sections of the chapter.

### **2.1 Origins and evolution of bio-inspired design**

Although the terminology of this area of design is relatively recent – appearing for the first time in the U.S.A. in 1958, by the hand of Jack E. Steele (Lloyd, 2008) – the practice, creation and inspiration through learning about nature comes from the most remote and pre-historic times. Primitive human beings used bone harpoons, which were serrated on their edges, to improve their piercing ability. This feature was likely inspired by animal teeth.

Leonardo da Vinci was probably the first systematic student of the possibilities of bionics (Lage and Dias, 2003). From the classical times of the Icarus legend, to the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, man's dream to fly originated in the observation of bird and insect flight. Leonardo da Vinci realized that the human arms were too weak to flap wings for a long time, and hence developed several sketches of machines he called ornitopters (Kindersley, 1995). Human flight would only be possible in the XXth century, with the aid of the internal combustion engine and the propeller, but the inspiration from nature is anyway at its onset.

One of the most disseminated examples of bio-inspired design is Velcro, invented in 1948, by Swiss engineer George de Mestral, from inspiration he got while observing thistles and the way they got caught in his dog's tail and adhered to clothes. In current times, designers Luigi Colani and Ross Lovegrove have been instrumental in portraying the use of bionics in their creations. Colani became notorious by the use of biodynamic forms in products such as automobiles and airplanes, during the second half of the XXth century (Pernodet and Mehly, 2000). Lovegrove's designs typically demonstrate a link between organic shapes and material science (Lovegrove, 2004). While a bio-inspired approach to design may not represent a universal tool that is applicable to any problem, it may provide support to design activities (Colombo, 2007). A set of five bio-inspired approaches to design, documented in literature, are presented in the following sub-section.

#### **2.2 Methods for bio-inspired design**

The goal of bio-inspired design methods consists in offering designers an organized process in order to attain a model that may be applied in design, inspired by the relations between form and function in nature (Colombo, 2007). Despite the success attained in several cases from the use of this approach in design, the bio-inspired design approach may still have room for improvement, in order to become more systematic. Five existing methods have been collected from literature and are presented in Tables 1 to 5.

The design method presented in Table 1 emphasizes the importance of environmental and economical sustainability factors in the development and evaluation of the project by the designer. This method shows little support for organization problems. The method presented in Table 2 provides a detailed description of the procedures involved in natural sample collection and analysis. It also prescribes completely listing the working principles of the natural system. However, this method does not include any procedures concerning the design transfer of the features found in the natural samples. The design method presented in Table 3 gives emphasis to the product life cycle, by giving consideration to issues such as

Biologically Inspired Design: Methods and Validation 105

1. Identify Development of the Design Brief for a human need with the details and

3. Discover Find the best natural models to answer / address the challenges

4. Abstract Select the "champions" with the strategies most relevant to a particular

5. Emulate Developing ideas and solutions based on natural models to mimic

7. Identify Develop and refine design briefs based on lessons learned from

specifications of the problem to be solved.

Biological view of the problem. Questioning the Design Brief from the perspective of nature. Translation of the functions of the project into tasks performed in nature.

posed.

challenge of the project.

aspects of form, function and of the ecosystem as much as possible.

Evaluate the design solution considering the principles of life. Identify ways to improve the design and bring forward questions to explore issues such as those related to packaging, marketing, transportation, new products, additions and refinements.

evaluation of life's principles.

Selection of a problem to solve and performing further definition of it through functional decomposition and optimization.

Redefining the problem using broadly applicable biological terms. Asking the question: "How do biological solutions perform this function?"

Find solutions that are relevant to the biological problem with techniques such as changing constraints, analysis of natural champions of adaptation, variation within a family of solutions and multifunctionality.

Identify the structures and surface mechanisms of the biological system related to the recast function.

Extraction of the important principles of the solution in the form of a neutral solution, requiring a description that removes, as much as possible, the various structural and environmental constraints.

Translation of the bio-inspired solution principle extracted into a new area, involving an interpretation of a domain space (e.g., biology) to another (e.g., mechanics) by introducing new constraints.

Phase Description

Table 3. The spiral design method (Biomimicry Institute, 2007).

Table 4. Bio-inspired design method (Helms et al., 2009).

Phase Description

2. Interpret

6. Evaluate

1. Problem definition

2. Reframe the problem

3.Biological solution search

4. Define the biological solution

5. Principle extraction

6. Principle application

manufacturing processes, packaging and recycling of the product in development. In this method, iterations are implicit, and evaluation of the result of every step is also recommended.


Table 1. The Aalborg bio-inspired design method (Colombo, 2007).


Table 2. The biomimicry design method (Junior et al., 2002).

manufacturing processes, packaging and recycling of the product in development. In this method, iterations are implicit, and evaluation of the result of every step is also

> Choice and analysis of a natural system. The purpose of this phase is to understand the form, structure and functional principles of the natural system.

Extrapolation of mathematical, geometrical and statistical principles through a process of abstraction and simplification. Transformation, by the analysis of the analogy, of the characteristics of the biological system into technical and mechanical terms.

Implement the principles of the relationship between form and structure found in the natural system analysis, for the development of new products.

Development and evaluation of a new product taking the environmental and economic factors for all life stages of the product into account.

Identification of an unmet need in a satisfactory manner and that allows the satisfaction of a particular problem and accurately, for subsequent analysis of the environment in search of potential solutions.

Practical process step involving the selection of samples in nature that fit the problem and the need at hand. Involves the search for samples in nature and some knowledge about the habitat of the samples to be collected and of the equipment to be used for the collection.

Observation and analysis of the components of the morphological structure, functions and processes, of the distributions in time and space and of the relationship with the environment. Classification of the sample.

Through the information of functional analysis, morphology and structure, the designer has the capacity to start considering the possibility and feasibility of application of an analogy between the sample studied and the product to design.

Considering the feasibility of application of the sample characteristics to the design and from the functional, formal and structural analysis, as well as the needs and requirements of the proposed product, an analysis of the system is held at this stage.

Phase Description

Table 1. The Aalborg bio-inspired design method (Colombo, 2007).

Table 2. The biomimicry design method (Junior et al., 2002).

Phase Description

recommended.

1. Analysis

2. Transformation

3. Implementation

4. Product development

1. Identification of need

2. Selection and sampling

3. Observation of the sample

4. Analogy of the natural system with the product

5. Design implementation


Table 3. The spiral design method (Biomimicry Institute, 2007).


Table 4. Bio-inspired design method (Helms et al., 2009).

Biologically Inspired Design: Methods and Validation 107

sought. The goals were selected based on their perceived level of importance and their perceived ubiquitous relevance across design projects, albeit translated into a number of requirements, specific to the problems at hand. Communication effectiveness, form optimization, multiple requirements satisfaction, organization effectiveness and paradigm

Effectiveness of communication depends on the sharing of a language that may be based on a code, gestures, or on signal that is appropriate to the activity and context. For effective communication to accrue it is necessary that the message is clearly delivered and received in a timely fashion, without noise, and that it is relevant to the situation or event that is

Optimizing the shape of an object or structure can result directly from the balanced satisfaction (with concessions on both sides - trade-offs) of several key requirements, such as the reduction of material and, or, size, or the satisfaction of greater stability, or reduced drag, depending on the targeted objectives. It is not always possible to achieve an optimal configuration, with maximization of all properties due to inherent conflicts that they sometimes impart (e.g. contradiction between low weight and high strength or high volume or stability). Thus, optimization requires that the configuration reached is the one that best

Nature is rife with effective solutions in order to enable, in a limited space, a system to perform various tasks or fulfil several functions. Compliance with multiple requirements reflects the achievement of several key points that are inherent to the problem at hand, aiming for viability and profitability of a small number of structures and elements that are to be used in performing more than one function. This simultaneous satisfaction opens the way for consideration of new objectives to add value and profitability to the designed product or system. Compliance with various targets, carried out by a limited set of features, structures or entities implies streamlining for functional efficiency, which will result in

The effectiveness of organization depends on the coordination of multiple structures (which also includes communication) for the performance of activities with the need of differentiation. The coordination of multiple entities in joint activity may lead to more effective results than the performance of the activity separately by each entity, such as that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts". An example of excellent coordination and effectiveness of the resulting organization can be inferred from observation of the natural system comprised of a pack of wolves. The group can hunt animals larger than the wolf, while a lone wolf may only hunt smaller animals or of a scale similar to his. The organization of the roles of each element

Finally, the fifth goal considered consists in achieving change in the conventional paradigm used to implement a feature, replacing it with an innovative paradigm. The latter may be proposed based on the observation of structures, behaviours and, or, processes of nature that enable improved performance of the function or feature. The features can be characterized by transformation of physical state, state association or state hierarchy, to name a few. This goal is deemed to represent one of the most commonly sought goals by

Considering the five goals presented, the five methods under focus were analysed in terms of their perceived support offered to designers making use of them towards the satisfaction

**3.1 Likelihood of achieving the goals selected by using bio-inspired methods** 

innovation for improved functional performance are the goals considered.

addresses the contradictions and conflicts between the desired properties.

within the pack is a pre-condition for achieving this result.

designers inclined to use a bionic approach.

ongoing.

resource savings.


Table 5. Bio-solution in search of a problem method (adapted from Helms et al., 2009).

For the method presented in Table 4, the process of problem definition and searching for biological solutions is supported by elucidative techniques, suggestions and practical examples. The method presented in Table 5 supports an iterative formulation of the bioinspired design principle.

The application of bionic principles in a design project can be accomplished by following any of two opposing directions: finding a solution to a problem in nature, or looking for a problem for which a solution has been found in nature. The former approach starts with the identification of a problem (human applications, such as developing or improving products or services) or the need of a project, followed by looking for inspiration from nature or an analogy to foster a solution to the problem (a bionic solution proposal). This approach is well suited to designers seeking inspiration for the development of a particular product. The other approach is based on the observation of nature and its structures in order to collect useful information (bionic inspiration based solution) for human applications (design problems to be sought).
