At the conference, the subject of biomimicry was presented in detail by 11 lecturers, with the aim of promoting curiosity, dialogue and research and applied collaborations between biologists and engineers
By: Eli Tabor and Yael Halfman Cohen
About 150 engineers, scientists, academics and industrialists participated in the first conference on biomimicry - academia and industry, which took place on October 22, in one of the buildings of the "Microsoft" company in Herzliya Pituach, and was organized by the Chamber of Engineers and Architects and the Israel Biomimicry Organization in cooperation with the Biomimicry Laboratory at the School of Studies The environment by Porter, Tel Aviv University. At the conference, the subject of biomimicry was presented in detail by 11 lecturers, with the aim of promoting curiosity, dialogue and research and applied collaborations between biologists and engineers.
The conference opened with a lecture by Yael Halfman Cohen, co-founder and CEO of the Israeli biomimicry organization, "Biomimicry as an Innovation Engine". The lecture dealt with the innovation characteristics of the field and the gaps that must be filled in order to realize the potential of biomimetic innovation.
The first session of the conference, "Biomimicry in academia: energy, material and engineering", opened with the lecture of Dr. Marian Plotkin, a post-doctoral student at the Technion in the group of Prof. Hussam Haik, on the topic "Harvesting solar energy in the exoskeleton of the Eastern hornet". When the surface and colors of the wasp's skeleton were studied, they were found to have special light-trapping properties, including a pigment that enables the conversion of light into electricity. The possible applicability of this research is the possibility of developing nanometer structures, which will manipulate the light. The session continued with a lecture by Dr. Hitam Kassem, head of the Tribology Laboratory at the Technion Institute of Metals, about a new method to create surfaces with hierarchical microstructures that mimic the attachment mechanism of a gecko. The surfaces are capable of producing a frictional force of several dozen times the normal load. This technology is an important step towards solving the problems of reversible and fast connection facilities. The session ended with a lecture by Prof. Amir Aili, Head of the Department of Zoology at Tel Aviv University, on the topic of biological engineering cooperation inspired by the grasshopper. Locusts flying in a complex environment are a model for swarm movement and a source of inspiration for the development of robot swarms for useful purposes, such as clearing mines, search and rescue, cleaning pollutants and more.
The second session of the conference, "Biomimicry in academia - movement and robotics", opened with the lecture of
Prof. Benjamin Hochner, from the Department of Neurobiology at the Institute of Life Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "What can be learned from the octopus about designing flexible robots". The octopus is the best example in nature of the movement of long and flexible arms, which do not tangle with each other while moving. Studies carried out on the octopus revealed that the octopus overcame challenges related to controlling its arms by adopting unique strategies that allow for successful interaction between the brain, body and environment. Later, research professor emeritus Daniel Weiss, from the Department of Aeronautics and Space Engineering, lectured on studies about bird flight (pelicans, for example) and animal swimming, studies that inspired improvements in aircraft and low-altitude structural flights.
On biomimetic inspiration from the sea, with an emphasis on imitating the activity of coral reefs, Prof. Yehuda Benyaho, professor of marine biology, from the Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University, lectured. The main part of his lecture dealt with a discovery he made in his laboratory related to unique collagen fibers found in the doughy coral, a soft, mushroom-like coral, tens of centimeters in diameter, which resides in tropical reefs, including in Eilat. It was found that these stretchable elastic fibers, made of biomechanically unique collagen, have high elasticity and strength, at the highest level in the animal world. The future potential of this collagen is in the field of orthopedics, tissue transplantation in the human body, and the production of artificial blood vessels.
Prof. Yoram Reich's lecture, from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Tel Aviv University, which concluded this session, dealt with the way in which biomimicry will enable difficult problems to be solved without compromise, so that it can be a basis for engineering, organizations and methods. He presented examples from nature for achieving goals in the most efficient, fastest and simplest way, the motto at the base of which is - the factor that created the problem will also solve it!
The third and final session of the "Biomimicry in Industry" conference was dedicated to the presentation of biomimetic applications that are already commercially marketed.
Dr. Dafna Haim Langford, chairman of the Israeli Biomimicry Organization, reviewed selected biomimetic applications applied in the field of medicine in Israel and abroad, including the Japanese development of a non-painful injection, based on imitating the mosquito's blood-sucking proboscis, surgical suture threads inspired by the porcupine thorn, and an additive Unique amorphous calcium inspired by the blue crab.
Later, Dr. Amir Thorn, CEO of the Israeli "Starlet Drama" company, presented the InoCyte system - a system of micro syringes the size of a micron based on the burning mechanisms of the sea lily. Mimicking this mechanism of the sea lily created an innovative platform for the subcutaneous introduction of active substances, such as medical and cosmetic products.
The conference was concluded by a lecture by Ms. Tut Shani, representative of the German Festo company in Israel. Pesto is an international company, a leading supplier of automation technologies based, most of them, on biomimetic innovation. In 2006, the company established a bionic department, which is a bionic learning network, which studies organisms and integrates the conclusions of its research into the company's technological products. This bionic group is a model for the introduction of biomimetic methodologies into the ongoing R&D activity of a business company.
The conference moves in the space between biology and engineering and between academia and industry. These are the materials that make up the biomimetic innovation. At the end of the day, the vision is to see a biomimetic industry in Israel. The State of Israel has all the strengths required to lead this wave of innovation at the global level as well: extensive biological-scientific knowledge, strong engineering and an entrepreneurial spirit.
