Table Of ContentBIOMIMETICS
Biologically Inspired Technologies
BIOMIMETICS
Biologically Inspired Technologies
EDITED BY
Yoseph Bar-Cohen
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bar-Cohen, Yoseph.
Biomimetics : biologically inspired technologies / Yoseph Bar-Cohen.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8493-3163-3 (alk. Paper)
1. Biomimetics. 2. Bionics I. Title.
QP517.B56B37 2005
600—dc22
2005048511
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3163_Discl.fm Page 1 Wednesday, September 21, 2005 3:14 PM
Abstract
Over the 3.8 billion years since life is estimated to have begun to appear on Earth, evolution has
resolved many of nature’s challenges leading to lasting solutions with maximal performance using
minimal resources. Nature’s inventions have always inspired human achievement and have led to
effective algorithms, methods, materials, processes, structures, tools, mechanisms, and systems.
There are numerous examples of biomimetic successes including some that are simple copies of
nature, such as the use of fins for swimming. Other examples were inspired by biological capabil-
ities with greater complexity including the mastery of flying that became possible only after the
principles of aerodynamics were better understood. Some commercial implementations of biomi-
metics can be readily found in toy stores, where robotic toys are increasingly appearing and
behaving like living creatures. More substantial benefits of biomimetics include the development
of prosthetics that closely mimic real limbs as well as sensory-enhancing microchips that are being
used to interface with the brain to assist in hearing, seeing, and controlling instruments. In this book,
various aspects of the field of biomimetics are reviewed, examples of inspiring biological models
and practical applications of biomimetics are described, and challenges and potential directions of
the field are discussed.
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Editor
Yoseph Bar-Cohen is a physicist who has specialized in electroactive materials and mechanisms,
and ultrasonics nondestructive evaluation (NDE). A senior research scientist and group supervisor,
Advanced Technologies, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), he is also responsible for the
Nondestructive Evaluation and Advanced Actuators (NDEAA) Lab (http://ndeaa.jpl.nasa.gov/).
The NDEAA lab established in 1991 is listed on the JPL’s Chief Technologies as one of the JPL
unique facilities. Bar-Cohen is a fellow of two technical societies: The International Society for
Optical Engineering (SPIE) and American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT). He
received his PhD in Physics (1979) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. His notable
discoveries are the leaky Lamb waves (LLW) and polar backscattering phenomena in composite
materials. Bar-Cohen has over 280 publications as author and coauthor, and 16 registered patents.
He has made numerous presentations at national and international conferences and chaired and co-
chaired 27 conferences. As coauthor, editor, and coeditor, he has written and edited 4 books and 11
conference proceedings. He is the initiator of the SPIE Conference on electroactive polymers
(EAP), which he has been chairing since 1999. He challenged engineers worldwide to develop a
robotic arm driven by EAP to wrestle with humans and win, and he organized the competition as
part of the EAPAD conferences. The first of this competition took place on March 7, 2005. For his
contributions to the field of EAP, he has been named one of five technology gurus who are pushing
tech’s boundaries by Business Week in April 2003. His scientific and engineering accomplishments
have earned him many honors and awards including the NASA Exceptional Engineering Achieve-
ment Medal in 2001, two SPIE awards — the NDE Lifetime Achievement Award (2001) and the
Smart Materials and Structures Lifetime Achievement Award (2005).
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Acknowledgments
The research at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology was carried out
under a contract with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The editor would like to thank David Hanson, University of Texas at Dallas and Hanson
Robotics, Inc. for his drawing of the book cover page. Further, the editor would like to acknow-
ledge and express his appreciation to the following individuals who took the time to review various
book chapters. Their contribution is highly appreciated and it has helped to make this book of
significantly greater value to its readers. The 65 individuals who served as reviewers of chapters in
this book are:
Rajat Agrawal
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Delaware,
Newark, DE
Tony Aponick
Foster-Miller, Inc., Waltham, MA
Limor Bar-Cohen
Department of Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, University of
California, Los Angeles, CA
Jon Barnes
Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow,
Scotland, U.K.
William Baumgartner
Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD
Peter J. Bentley
University College London, London, U.K.
Reinhard Blickhan
Science of Motion, Institute of Sportscience, Friedrich Schiller
University, Jena, Germany
Paul Calvert
Department of Textile Sciences, Dartmouth, MA
Robert E. Cleland
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Jack Cohen
Newent, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K.
John Conte
Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD
Bob Dennis
University
of
North
Carolina,
Department
of
Biomedical
Engineering, Chapel Hill, NC
Ezequiel Di Paolo
Sussex University, Brighton, U.K.
Tammy Drezner
California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA
Zvi Drezner
California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA
Wolfgang Fink
Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech, Pasadena, CA
Greg Fischer
Strategic Analysis, Inc., Arlington, VA
Robert A. Freitas Jr.
Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, Los Altos, CA
Udi Gazit
University of Tel Aviv, Israel
Vincent Gott
Cardiac Surgery, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore,
MD
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