1. My first Biomimicry I’ll discuss is Rapiro’s Humanoid Robot Kit, Rasberry Pi. I have to say that unfortunately, this is the kind of Biomimicry I despise.
The robots are a creation of While I love the concept of trying to understand human design [or whatever argument you want to pose] through robots, selling these objects which have very rudimentary use is frivolous. Do we really need someone to pick up our coffee for us and dust our table space? Some may, but investing this much technology into something that can easily be replaced by a toddler makes little sense.
2. The second Biomimicry project I wanted to write about was the Shinkansen Bullet Train in Japan. It is the fastest fast speed rail in the world and underwent a huge design change in the early 1990s.
When designing the new train, designers faced issues with the sound it would make after exiting a tunnel [dealing with air pressure] that would violate Japan’s sound-pollution regulations. After confronting the issue, they eventually found the answers in nature. Eiji Nakatsu, the man responsible for testing the bullet trains, was also a bird admirer and was informed about certain birds capability to fly effortlessly and quietly through the air. Through study of bird physiology, Nakatsu was able to reconfigure the trains by mimicking the dynamic characterised by the birds. The output was sound reduction of 30 percent! Amazing what we can learn from such small creatures!