In the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian poem written about four thousand years ago, the wild man Enkidu is raised by animals and lives in harmony with the beasts around him until he encounters his first human being.  After he discovers civilization he finds the animals shun him and refuse to let him back into their fold.

Clearly we as humans have been frustrated by an unattainable desire to be closer to the world around us for thousands of years, but for just as long we have been fascinated and inspired by the natural world.  While biomimicry – the creation of technology meant to mimic animal or plant life – may seem like a new engineering trend, humans have been observing and mimicking nature for ages.

In 1941, a Swiss engineer by the name of Georges de Mestral  invented Velcro after looking at burs caught on his dog’s fur under a microscrope, replicating their hook-like design.  Today, biomimicry is as popular as ever.  The Japanese bullet train was inspired by the aerodynamic beak of the kingfisher bird which enables the train to pass through tunnels at high speeds while minimizing the amount of pressure built up – just like a kingfisher can dive into the water at high speeds with hardly a splash.  Humpback whale fins have inspired more efficient ceiling fans and shark skin’s water resistant qualities have been employed in the design of things like airplane siding and car tires.  Of course not everything that claims to be designed from nature is, and not every design that is works exactly as predicted.  Like any science, biomimicry follows a method and can fall victim to false assumptions or faulty hypotheses.

We’ll learn a bit about biomimicry in our “It’s Alive: Robotics & Biomimicry” program for tweens and teens (grades 3-12) during Fall Break.  The centerpiece of our program is our new Lego WeDo kits.  We’ll be making robotic creations designed off of animals out of Legos.  Call (812) 949-3528 or visit our event calendar to register.

Watch a video of the Lego snake robot I made.  He’s been programmed to bite if you get too close!