A Review on the Future of Biomimicry in the Field of Design

Abstract

The word biomimicry is a combination of the two Greek words bios (life) and mimesis (imitation). Biomimicry is a discipline that turns to the natural world for ideas and solutions. In the past decade, bionic research and applications have become omnipresent. The natural ventilation achieved in the Eastgate Centre Building, Zimbabwe, the phenomenon of super hydrophobicity exhibited by leaves of the Lotus plant, the Gecko adhesive etc are a few in the tall list of applications. Transportation is one of the main sectors where bionic applications have lead to higher energy efficiency as the examples of the bullet train and the Mercedes Bionic Car clearly indicates. Biomimicry finds application in the design of transportation networks. Use of Slime Mold to generate designs has proven to be more effective than designs by humans. Algorithms like Bee Colony Optimization also find widespread application today. The success and impact of biomimicry depends on 4M’s as the MP4 theory explains.