Innovation inspired by nature

Biomimicry

Insect inspired robots

These tiny robots are currently being used by the US military as spies.

Gecko robot

Technical Problem: how to right itself when it tips overNatures Answer: Geckos use their tail.

Lichenmost efficent miner

 Lichens are great miners, capable of extracting specific inorganic molecules like magnesium from rocks and trees

Fishing works

This submarine moves by moving the flexible tail from side to side. It can dive much deeper than any manned sub.

Smart Bird

Torsion drive lets the robot fly by moving its wings up and down. The robot is built from carbon fiber composites and polyurethane foam. It weighs 485 grams and requires 23 watts of power to work

Snake RobotCalled “Modsnakes” These robots are designed to slip through narrow spaces, crawl through tubes, swim, climb trees as well. These mechanical snakes can be used to control tight spaces, disarmament lethal ammunition and locate survivors in the disaster zone.

Fire fighting Beetle

Designed by German scientists, beetle lookalike to help quench forest fires in the future. It moves at a speed of 19.12 km / h, which is much faster than a live beetle and is able to withstand extreme temperatures

Search and rescue CaterpillarIt is one of the fastest self-propelled wheeling behaviors in nature. Soft robots like this one could be used for faster search and recovery efforts after disasters, like the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan.

Hazardous SpiderEnviably agile and purposeful, the mobile robot makes its way through grounds rendered off-limits to humans as the result of a chemical accident. Depressions, ruts and other obstacles are no match for this eight-legged high-tech journeyman. Its mission: with a camera and measurement equipment on board, it will provide emergency responders with an image of the situation on the ground, along with any data about poisonous substances.

Gecko feetResearchers, from Simon Fraser University, have developed a tank-like robot that has the ability to scale smooth walls, opening up a series of applications ranging from inspecting pipes, buildings, aircraft and nuclear power plants to deployment in search and rescue operations.

Slippery Pitcher PlantAfter a rain, the cupped leaf of a pitcher plant becomes a virtually frictionless surface. Sweet-smelling and elegant, the carnivore attracts ants, spiders, and even little frogs. One by one, they slide to their doom.The researchers anticipate the technology could be used for:- fuel and water-transport pipes- medical tubing- self-cleaning windows- surfaces that resist bacteria- ship hulls- ice-resistant materials- graffiti resistant walls

Whale fins

Tubercled turbine blades bumped up the efficiency by 20 percent. That is, the same amount of wind produced 20 percent more electricity on a windmill with tubercles than without.

Instant color change

Imagine being able to change the color of the wall in your house with a switch . . . Like a butterfly.

The Morpho butterfly wing surface, however, is anything but uniform. It is made of tiny scales, which, in turn have ridges, which have sloping shelves

Bee Hive buildings

Covered in foliage, this honeycomb tower is part vertical farm and part residential building combined to create a mini eco system.

Models of the Human Body

Artificial Knee

Artificial hand

Pacemaker

Cloning

The cloning of higher animals is generally more difficult. One approach is to remove the nucleus of one cell by means of very delicate instruments and then to insert that nucleus into a second cell. Another method is to divide embryo tissues and insert them into surrogate mothers, where they then develop normally.

Dolly - February 1997

Potential Uses of Stem Cells

Kidney Dialysis Machine

Blood from the patient runs through tubes made of a semi-porous membrane. Red and white blood cells and other important blood components are too

large to fit through the pores in the membranes, but urea and salt flow through membranes into the sterile solution and are removed.

Hip joint replacement

Artificial SkinThe bioprinter has a built-in laser scanner that scans the wound and determines its depth and area. The scan is converted into three-dimensional digital images that enable the device to calculate how many layers of skin cells

need to be printed on the wound to restore it to its original configuration

1960s era 1982