9 TRANSPORTATION SOLUTIONS INSPIRED BY BIOMIMICRY

9 ways of getting around inspired by biomimicry
By Margaret Badore, Treehugger, 26 December 2013.

The theme of the 2013-2014 Biomimicry Student Design Challenge is transportation. Students from around the world will be dreaming up ways of getting people and things from place to place, and will look to nature to see how to do it.

Of course, a number of designers and roboticists have already been looking how the creatures of nature move. Below, you'll find some of the ways nature's creativity is already being put to use.

Interesting finding out more about the design challenge? Lean more here.

1. Killer Whale-Inspired Submarine

Credit: Hammacher Schlemmer

This submarine from Hammacher Schlemmer is disguised as an orca, allowing two pilots to dive and spyhop just like a whale. The pilot uses levers to control pectoral fins and steers with foot pedals. Although it's just for recreation, it's an interesting application of biomimicry. Read more here.

2. Robotic sea turtle will dive to explore ship wrecks

Credit: YouTube

Biomimicry can help us reach places that are difficult for humans to go, like the ocean depths. Researchers at the Tallinn University of Technology developed this biomimetic robot, which swims like sea turtle. This allows the robot to swim through shipwrecks with minimal disturbances to the water, and better visibility. Read more here.

3. "Flying Jellyfish" moves through the air

Sometimes, biomimicry finds the solution to one problem in totally different habitat. This robot doesn't look much like a jellyfish, but its movement imitate the undulations of the sea creature's movements. A team of researchers at New York University designed the flying jellyfish, which they hope can one day be used in search and rescue missions. Read more here.

4. Octopuses inspire propulsion systems for boats

Credit: Fraunhofer IPA

Researchers at The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA mimicked the movements of an octopus to design this propulsion system. The system made up of four elastomer balls with mechanical workings that create propulsion from sucking in water through an opening and then pushing it out. A valve prevents the water from flowing back out once it's brought in and then a hydraulic piston contracts the integrated cable structure like a muscle, pushing the water out of the ball. Read more here.

5. Stingrays inspire unmanned deep sea vehicles

Credit: Doulgas Levere

This deep sea vehicle was designed by researchers at University at Buffalo and Harvard. It uses vortices on the waves of the stingray's body to push itself forward, just like a stingray. Read more here.

6. Flipperbot walks on the beach like a sea turtle

Credit: YouTube

Here's another robot inspired by turtles, but this time, it's how turtles get across a sandy breach that intrigued Nicole Mazouchova, then a graduate student in the Georgia Tech School of Biology. She wanted to understand how flippers were useful both on land and in the water. Read more here.

7. Robotic bat wing holds new possibilities for small aircraft

Credit: Breuer and Swartz labs/Brown University

Researchers at Brown University are taking a closer look at the anatomy of bat wings and how they can be used to inspire new possibilities for small aircraft. Their wing is plastic bones created with a 3D printer, joints moved by servo motors and cables acting as tendons and "skin" made of silicone elastomer. Read more here.

8. Robotic Cheetah breaks speed record

Credit: DARPAtv

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) designed this biomemetic cheetah to run faster than any human, clocking in a 20-meter split on the treadmill at 28.3 mph. Read more here.

9. Robotic salamander walks on land, swims in water

This robot designed at the Biorobotics Laboratory of École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland can both swim and walk. The bright yellow bot is called Salamander II, and makes the most of an articulated body and rotating limbs. Read more here.

[Source: Treehugger. Edited.]