Authors: Katherine Fu, Diana Moreno, Maria Yang, and Kristin L. Wood
J. Mech. Des. 136(11), 111102 (2014) (18 pages)
doi: 10.1115/1.4028289
J. Mech. Des. 136(11), 111102 (2014) (18 pages)
doi: 10.1115/1.4028289
Bio-inspired design is a cutting edge field of inquiry and practice, founded by thinkers such as Steele (bionics, 1950s), Schmitt (biomimetics, 1950s), and French (biologically inspired design, 1988). Many successful products have resulted from this approach or way of designing, dating back to the 19th century, including barbed wire, Tiffany lamps, the Wright glider, the design of Central Park in Manhattan, and many more. Based on these and other bio-inspired designs, foundational questions arise, such as: how can we go about finding these elegant analogies without being a biology expert or without counting on isolated experiences or chance? To answer this question, researchers have worked to understand the cognitive mechanisms that underlie bio-inspired design, as well as developed tools and methods to support it. In this paper, we examine seminal methods for supporting bio-inspired design (including the work of Benyus/Deldin et al., Chakrabarti et al., Shu and Cheong et al., Nagel et al., Vattam et al., and Vincent et al.) and review the existing literature on bio-inspired design cognition, highlighting the areas well aligned with current findings in design-by-analogy cognition work and noting important areas for future research identified by the investigators responsible for these seminal tools and methods. Supplemental to the visions of these experts in bio-inspired design, we suggest additional projections for the future of the field, posing intriguing research questions to further unify the bio-inspired design field with its broader resident field of design-by-analogy.
| Katherine Fu Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Singapore University of Technology and Design Republic of Singapore Katherine.fu@gmail.com | Diana Moreno Massachusetts Institute of Technology & Singapore University of Technology and Design Republic of Singapore diana.moreno@uni.lu | Kristin L. Wood Singapore University of Technology and Design Republic of Singapore kristinwood@sutd.edu.sg |
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