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Beyond analogy: A model of bioinspiration for creative design

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2016

Camila Freitas Salgueiredo  and
Armand Hatchuel
Camila Freitas Salgueiredo*
Affiliation:
Renault, Technocentre Guyancourt, Guyancourt, France LIVIC-COSYS, IFSTTAR, Versailles, France Sorbonne Universités, Université Pierre et Marie Curie Paris, Paris, France
Armand Hatchuel
Affiliation:
MinesParisTech–PSL Research University, CGS Center for Management Science, Paris, France
*
Reprint requests to: Camila Freitas Salgueiredo, LIVIC-COSYS IFSTTAR, 25 allée des Marronniers, Versailles F-78000, France. E-mail: camila.freitassalgueiredo@ens.univ-evry.fr
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Abstract

Is biologically inspired design only an analogical transfer from biology to engineering? Actually, nature does not always bring “hands-on” solutions that can be analogically applied in classic engineering. Then, what are the different operations that are involved in the bioinspiration process and what are the conditions allowing this process to produce a bioinspired design? In this paper, we model the whole design process in which bioinspiration is only one element. To build this model, we use a general design theory, concept–knowledge theory, because it allows one to capture analogy as well as all other knowledge changes that lead to the design of a bioinspired solution. We ground this model on well-described examples of biologically inspired designs available in the scientific literature. These examples include Flectofin®, a hingeless flapping mechanism conceived for façade shading, and WhalePower technology, the introduction of bumps on the leading edge of airfoils to improve aerodynamic properties. Our modeling disentangles the analogical aspects of the biologically inspired design process, and highlights the expansions occurring in both knowledge bases, scientific (nonbiological) and biological, as well as the impact of these expansions in the generation of new concepts (concept partitioning). This model also shows that bioinspired design requires a special form of collaboration between engineers and biologists. Contrasting with the classic one-way transfer between biology and engineering that is assumed in the literature, the concept–knowledge framework shows that these collaborations must be “mutually inspirational” because both biological and engineering knowledge expansions are needed to reach a novel solution.

Keywords

Biologically Inspired DesignConcept–Knowledge Design TheoryInnovation
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
AI EDAM , Volume 30 , Issue 2: Design Computing and Cognition (DCC'14) , May 2016 , pp. 159 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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