Biomimetic Design: Examples Of Nature Inspiring Technology
When we talk about inventions, we duly give credit to what we call technology. Nonetheless, it is not always about technological advancements only. Many of the useful inventions we have today are inspired by nature. Thanks to the creativity and innovation of the human brain which keeps on deducing ideas from the surrounding. Perhaps, this particular ability of human minds has enabled humans to come up with biomimetic designs – the solutions inspired by nature.
Surprised? Well, don’t be! With this article, we give you a few examples of worthy biomimetic inventions.
Velcro Tape
Ever imagined how did humans succeed in creating something so useful and handy like a Velcro tape? It is one of the finest examples of biomimicry. The tape’s design is inspired from the way burdock seeds stick to surfaces such as dog’s hairs. When a Swiss engineer George de Mestral observed this phenomenon while walking in the woods with his dog, he thought of something which later came out to be Velcro!
Hydrophobic Coating
You may have heard about ‘Nanotol’. CeNano has launched this sealant to protect almost all kinds of surfaces from water, fats, and oil spills. This sealant bears hydrophobic, lipophobic and oleophobic properties which endow outstanding protective abilities to it. But, ever wondered how did CeNano create this product?
Well, the idea is inspired by the lotus effect. The leaves of the lotus flower never allow water droplets to settle on their surfaces. This property comes from the hydrophobic waxy coating on the microprotrusions on the leaves that simply repel water. This way, the flower also repels dust particles and stays clear. The same way, Nanotol keeps surfaces clean.
Birds and flight
Since the time human observed the flight of birds, he got inspired to conquer skies in the same way. This inspired Leonardo da Vinci at first to mimic this flight. However, despite extensive studies, he couldn’t invent anything fruitful. However, the idea continued to inspire others, thus enabling Otto Lilienthal to come up with gliding. But it also had some limitations. Nonetheless, humans kept working hard to achieve this goal, and eventually, Wright brothers succeeded in doing so. In 1903, they came up with a working powered machine that could fly. This was the first step towards the modern-day airplanes we have today.
Similarly, there are plenty of other useful biomimetic designs, such as the shark skin inspired coating, whale wind turbines, and bullet trains. You can even watch their videos on YouTube to know how they work. In case you cannot access YouTube, perhaps you can take help from a VPN YouTube TV. Thanks to technology that you can also bypass geographical content restrictions.
Enjoy!