Bio-inspired design: the impact of collaboration between engineers and biologists on analogical transfer and ideation

Abstract

To develop innovative technical solutions, designers seek inspiration from nature and its almost infinite pool of biological solutions. However, understanding biological solutions and transferring appropriate analogies to develop technical solutions pose a considerable challenge. A strategy to facilitate interdisciplinary understanding is collaboration between engineers and biologists. So far, the impact of this type of collaboration on analogical transfer and ideation has not been studied in an experimental setting. To close this research gap, this work examines design experiments with engineer-biologist pairs, half of whom were provided with a support for analogical transfer (BioId Support). Engineer-biologist pairs were compared to single disciplinary pairs with regards to the transfer of selected analogy categories. The impact of the transferred analogy categories on the quality of solution ideas was analysed-quality was regarded as an indicator for the solution ideas' innovative potential. The results show a positive influence of the supported collaboration between engineers and biologists on the transferred analogy categories. These analogy categories positively influence the quality of solution ideas. This work indicates benefits of collaboration between engineers and biologists for bio-inspired design. In addition, it provides a starting point for improving bio-inspired design methods.

Biological Practices and Fields, Missing Pieces of the Biomimetics’ Methodological Puzzle

“…Based on that logic, numerous articles have been published to support the integration of biologists within biomimetic design teams [7][8][9][10]. Wondering how, when, and for what purposes biologists should be integrated, these studies quickly underlined that the community wasn't only referring to existing biologists, but also pointed to the need for a new profile, leading to the question of its definition.…”

“…Recent studies have investigated such research axis, to legitimate the integration of stakeholders from biology through quantitative and qualitative studies [8,9,65], to point out the need for new communication support [66] and to properly define the actual needs and expectation of design teams towards biologists [10,67].…”

“…Facing the observation made in this section, determining which part of biology, and so which biological fields, to integrate in the context of biomimetics would naturally bring answers on the characterization of this new profile's know-how, knowledge, practices, and tools (Figure 2). Recent studies have investigated such research axis, to legitimate the integration of stakeholders from biology through quantitative and qualitative studies [8,9,65], to point out the need for new communication support [66] and to properly define the actual needs and expectation of design teams towards biologists [10,67].…”

The Effect of Abstraction Methods in Bio-Inspired Design – A Workshop and a Team Project Perspective

“…The considered ideas were documented as a note or sketch on a piece of paper or a white board. The solution ideas were regarded on four different levels of abstraction (based on Ponn and Lindemann, 2011, p.427-460), in terms of function, physical effect, working principle and embodiment, similar to the results of previous work (Hashemi Farzaneh 2020). As an indicator for the innovative potential, both novelty and quality of the solution ideas were analysed.…”

How Do Designers Impact the Biomimetic Concepts Typology?

“…In the literature, a few profiles have recently been studied: biologists [10]- [13], architects [6], [14] or engineers [15]. However, only few studies focus on designers with an artistic and industrial background.…”