Author(s)

T. Speck & O. Speck

Abstract

The entire developmental process from the biological template to the marketable biomimetic product is characterized by close cooperation between biologists, engineers and other scientists involved in the research project, who may come from branches of mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, geology, hydrology or meteorology. The presented methodology of doing biomimetics has proven effective in many R&D projects. Two principally different approaches can be distinguished as ‘bottom-up process’ and ‘top-down process’. Depending on the problem to be solved, numerous transitions exist between the two procedures. Keywords: biomimetics, top-down process, bottom-up process, technical biology. 1 Introduction Biomimetics is a portmanteau fabricated from the words Biology and mimesis (imitation). Its contents are essentially identical with the term bionics (combined from Biology and Technics). As alternatives to ‘bionic’ or ‘biomimetic’, the terms ‘biologically inspired’ or ‘bio-inspired’ are sometimes used. Biomimetics is the realization of technical applications based on insights resulting from fundamental biological research. Biomimetic developments are not direct carry-overs from biology, i.e. never ‘blueprints from nature’. Biomimetics has to be thought of as a creative technological implementation. It represents a reinvention inspired by nature. Biomimetic research typically includes several levels of abstraction and modification. Biomimetics is an extremely interdisciplinary research discipline in which experts from various areas, such as biologists, chemists, physicists or engineers cooperate in R&Dprojects. Depending on the scientific expertise of the individual participants,

Keywords

biomimetics, top-down process, bottom-up process, technical biology.