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BIONICS & BIOMIMICRYR.Pradeep,
Department of ECE,B.I.T.Institute of Technology, Hindupur-
Email !haratpradeep"iran#gmail.com
Abstract
During recent years bionics, a new discipline which is in
charge with the transfer of the principles of
construction,regulation, interaction and organization of biology
into
innovative technical solutions has attracted significant
interest from various industries. Based on this request for
bionic expertise in engineering, the faculty for
teachingengineering in foreign languages (!"#$ at
%&olitehnica%
'niversity of Bucharest started a course in bionics in ##
))*, which was supported by the expertise of the
+erman Bioni-/ompetenz0etz%, one of the leadingorganizations in
bionics. 1his is the report on the
considerations involved in the course concept, the first
experiences with the students% acceptance, someconclusions and
future perspectives for extending bionics
activities at %&olitehnica%. inally, within the last
section,
the evaluation of a questionnaire, filled in by the students
at the end of the course, will be presented. !n order toavoid
any confusion, considering overlapping or mixing
up with other biodisciplines related to technology, the
paper starts with a short introduction, explaining the
principles of bionics and providing a clear definition ofthe
field.
/eywords2 bionics3 teaching concepts3 course evaluation.
1. Introduction to BIONICS
R$B$TIC% is the science and technology
of designing, ma"ing& controlling, programming and
applying ro!ots. ' R$B$T is a mechanical or artificial
intelligent agent. It is usually an electromechanical
system, (hich, !y its appearance or mo)ements, con)eys
a sense that it has intent or agency of its o(n. The
meaning of Bionics is *rom !i +as in life / onics+as in
electronics& Therefore The study of mechanical
systems that function li"e li)ing organisms or parts of
li)ing organisms .
2. Bionics: Biological insigt into
Mecanical design
0hen pressed (ith an engineering pro!lem,
humans often dra( guidance and inspiration from the
nature, more recent e1amples of !iomimetic designs are
(ell documented.
*or e1ample
! birds and batsplayed a central role in one of the more
triumphant feats of human engineering, the construction
of an airplane. In the 23th century, 4eonardo da 5inci
s"etched designs for gliding and flapping machines !ased
on his anatomical study of !irds. 6ore than 788 yearslater, $tto
4ilienthal !uilt and fle( gliding machines that
(ere also patterned after !irds . %adly, 4ilienthal died in
one of his o(n creations, as he failed to sol)e pro!lem ofho( to
steer and maneu)er. The (ing (arping mechanism
that ena!led $r)ille and 0il!ur 0right to steer their
airplane past the cameras and into the history !oo"s is
said to ha)e !een inspired !y (atching !u99ards soar neartheir
$hio home
.
It is perhaps not surprising that early aeronautical
engineers (ere inspired !y :ature gi)en that the
performance gap (as so large and o!)ious. Because !irdscan fly
and (e cannot. 6ost engineering pro;ects,
ho(e)er, ta"e place successfully (ithout any e1plicit
reference to :ature, in large part !ecause natural analogsdo not
e1ist for most mechanical de)ices. $ne (ould need
to search far and (ide for a natural analog of a toaster.
:e)ertheless, in recent "ears tere see#s to be gro$ing
interest on te %art of engineers to borro$ design
conce%ts fro# Nature.The discipline has gro(n to the
point that !oo"s, articles, conference sessions, and
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There are many applications of !ionics (hich are
discussed here
).1 S#art li'ing s%aces :To allo( persons (ith chronic physical
Fcogniti)e
disa!ilities, namely elderly and Disa!led, to stay
home and li)e !y themsel)es GIntelligenceG !uilt
in appliances :um!er of sensors em!edded in theen)ironment or
(orn !y the person
To anticipate the person needs and
intentions
*or monitoring and diagnosis !y off-site
persons +Cardiac and respiratory cycles,
arterial pressure, Temperature, motion
detectors
* Issues
0ireless technologies
Per)asi)e computing
6iniature and (eara!le sensors to measure
Physiological parameters
Human mo)ement F !eha)ior interpretation
+%peech, facial e1pression, gestures
).2 +ersonal assistants
Healthcare through ro!ots-pets and humanoids
Ro!ot-pets interact (ith human !eings to ma"e
them feel emotional
'ttachment
seful to rela1, relie)e mental stress, and
e1ercise for physical reha!ilitation
Elderly, chronically ill children
Ro!ot therapy, 6ental commitment ro!otG
).),u#anoids
Humanoids are supposed to help people in thedaily life
assistance in house(or"
-entertainment
Healthcare deli)ery
).- Orto%edics
- %mall si9eFfootprint - minimal o!struction
- Close pro1imity to surgical site-:o patientFanatomy
immo!ili9ation
-:o trac"ingFreal-time repositioning- %mall (or"space - fine
positioning de)ice
- Potentially higher accuracy
- Intrinsic safety due to small si9eFlo( po(er
-. Bio#i#esis
-.1 Introduction
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