Bionics

The natural world as a source of engineering inspiration – that’s the core idea behind the fields bionics, a combination of the terms “biology” and “technics”, which means engineering in this context. In English, the approach of combining biology and engineering is often called biomimetics. The basic principle of biomimetics is learning from nature. The idea on bionics/biomimetics is to understand the principles and systems behind nature’s constructions and to transfer them to technical systems and devices.One major application of biomimetics is the field of biomaterials. Spider silk, for example, is both light and flexible and three times stronger than steel. Such material properties are of interest for various technical fibers. In robotics, animal models such as geckos are used as inspiration for the development of climbing robots. Another application is the development of water-repellent, self-cleaning materials, which were inspired by the surface structure of the lotus leaf.