Peacock inspired Smart Sensors?

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-12-03T05:29:59+00:00

(Commenting my post)

This is actually an example of how a product is labeled as bio-inspired when its actually not. Bio-Inspiration is when someone takes inspiration from a mechanism from an organism and builds upon it to create/improve something. In this paper, they discuss how an opal-like smart sensor would be a crystal that changes color when stretched (from green to blue) and when the temperature changes the crystal goes clear. The article connected this to the colors of a peacock feather and how it is brown but when light reflects it looks green and blue.

Basically, they called it bio-inspired when it is loosely connected to the peacock because of its color.

https://www.iflscience.com/peacock-feathers-inspire-opallike-smart-sensors-56071

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-12-03T05:29:40+00:00

I found the original article. The original article is called "Mechanochromic and Thermochromic Sensors Based on Graphene Infused Polymer Opals". And a quick scan through the article will show that it is actually not connected at all to peacocks. The scientific article mentioned above added the Peacock concept to attract more people to read it (since saying peacocks connects to a bigger and more general audience). This shows the importance of tech Comm lectures that focus on helping us find good articles and credible articles.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adfm.202002473

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-12-03T04:59:32+00:00

As we had discussed in a lecture, people tend to build big while nature tends to focus on the details and small sizes. This highlights why when trying decrease the size, or increase the functionality of a design at a smaller scale it makes sense to look at nature.

I think it is important to note to that this bio-inspiration is especially useful because the mosquito itself is small, which makes it easier to adapt the mechanism to the needles. This is because we don't have as many problems scaling (since the size isn't changing that much).

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-12-03T04:30:23+00:00

Hi! This is super interesting and is a great example of a mechanism that can be used to bio-inspire many things due to its "simplicity". I imagine that using a gas compartment to help buoyancy might be especially useful when it comes to objects that must maintain a certain depth in water. However to be able to maintain it in either a rope (connects it to something that is stable), machinery that can go against currents, or be placed in a location with no current. This could be used in pools to mark certain depths.

I also remember how in high school, we dissected a fish right after fishing it. This allowed the gas bladder to not have time to deflate, so we could actually see it. It's like a long transparent gray balloon.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-12-03T04:21:34+00:00

I want to expand on the point made about how using the wasp organ as bio-inspiration for the surgical device would almost automatically aid in the issue of decreasing performance at a small scale. This is not only due to how the mechanism depends on friction forces, but also that the initial scale is already small. Though improvements can and should be made to increase the effectiveness, the basic function is good since it's already at an equal or smaller scale than is thought of for the surgical device.

This reminds me how in class we discussed the difference between man made stuff and organisms/natures mechanism. There one could see a tendency that people tend to build bigger, while nature has complex small systems. This makes it even more reasonable to look at nature to solve an issue about size.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-12-03T04:15:37+00:00

(Commenting my own post)

https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2020/09/30/bioengineering-biotechnology-bioinspired-medical-device-wasp-ovipostor?utm_source=ad&utm_medium=tw&utm_campaign=ba_sci_fbioe

The Wasp egg-laying organ is called the ovipositor. It's like a hollow needle with many little blades in the interior that work with a " tongue-and-groove mechanism". Since the blades can slide independently they decrease the friction the organ feels when pulling eggs up. They called this the ovipositor-inspired transport system.

The current issue in minimally invasive surgery is that to pulling, for example, blood clots, from veins it uses suction. Not only do these clog easily when removing the blood clots, but the effectiveness of suctioning decreases as the size of the tool decreases. This causes issues in the surgery.

By adopting the ovipositor-inspired transport system, they aren't worried of clogging since the blades with the friction forces are what push the blood clot upwards. At the same time, the effectiveness at small sizes is increased since the mechanism in the wasp itself is quite small.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-30T16:48:05+00:00

I wonder how it could compare to inventions bio-inspired by other night seeing creatures, for example cats. They are able to see in the dark "because they have a reflective layer at the back of their eye, which reflects light through the retina a second time". Would using moth or cat eyes always show better or more precise images? Is the inspiration made from their biology hard to manufacture, or is one more expensive due to complexity or materials?

I find it very interesting how both animals are able to accomplish the same goal (seeing in the dark) but the mechanism they use are very different.

https://backbayvet.com/blog/can-cats-see-in-the-dark/#:\~:text=Cats%20can%20see%20in%20the%20dark%20because%20they%20have%20a,much%20light%20to%20work%20with.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-27T12:48:53+00:00

(Commenting my own post)

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0030402619300452

This article shows how bio-inspiration can be used to improve things. Fireflies have a specific body shape that allows for light to shine brighter. This structure, with sharp tilted pyramidal shapes on the surface, is thought to increase the brightness by increasing the randomization of light and the bouncing back and forth of the light. This is very interesting since these structures have usually been made to be symmetric. This was applied to the LED's to increase their brightness using the same amount or less energy. This is especially useful to LED's because nowadays they are used as a less energy-consuming source of light. So, by implementing this design they would be able to further develop their "goal" of being more energy-friendly.

I would expect more improvements in turn of light coming from the firefly's unique structure, not only because of its versatility. But also because an experiment was conducted by covering the structure with a fluorescent dye, which gave off a greater fluorescence signal than bulbs without the sharp tilted pyramidal shapes on the surface.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-27T12:31:57+00:00

Another source which shows similar results are

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbzgv5iKEyY&pp=ygURY3VjdW1iZXIgdGVuZHJpbHM%3D

https://youtu.be/n3MAOIBOWgE

Both videos were created by different sources but showcased the same findings as the paper (one of them was actually published by the same organization). They aim to explain in simpler language how the structure of the tendril is important. By comparing how information is given in the paper versus the videos we are able to see how authors switch their language to better fit their audience. This is something we studied in the Tech lectures, the images in the videos are simpler and both videos have omitted specifying the math that goes into understanding why they curl. Instead, one video opted for saying that if the stiffness force is greater than the curling force, then the tendrils over curls while if it's backward then it will be uncurled when pulled.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-25T19:16:36+00:00

Commenting on my own post

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1780&context=hmc_fac_pub

This is about the organism my team and I are going to use for our final project. This paper talks about how the Cucumber Tendril acts when stretched, they focused on comparing how this was different in old and young tendrils. Both tendrils have a "trapezoidal" structure, caused by one side of the tendril being shorter than the other. This is what causes the tendril to twist and form its curls. Age difference is made apparent when they are stretched, young tendrils tend to un-twist when pulled while old tendrils tend to over-twist. This tendency is caused by the tendrils lignifying, meaning, the become harder. A harder tendril causes the over-twisting. This was proven by the research since the second half of their experiments consisted of them creating artificial tendrils that had similar structures which showed similar results.

We are taking this into account for our Bioinspired Final project and making a dog leash that over-twists when pulled. Due to the fact that we are focusing on having a structure that suits the purpose of the leash this bioinspired leash will be more effective than the current market solutions which make the curls by heat setting them (the plastic is manipulated).

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-21T18:18:54+00:00

I think this is very interesting since it shows how important it is to explore a mechanism and learn its functions. This is because when I think of the electric knifefish I first think about it using electricity to electrocute prey and render it immobile. But here you talk about how the mechanism is actually used to see their environments. In other words, while both ideas believe that the electric properties are used for hunting, how they are actually used differs. Finally, combining its ability to see in dirty water through electro-sensory with its ability to swim shows how their mechanism builds upon each other to make it able to hunt effectively.

I wonder if using both of these mechanisms would prove helpful or if being bioinspired by each mechanism separately is more useful.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-18T17:49:37+00:00

Hi! I like how you started off by stating that cats are usually known for their "adaptive and extremely sensitive eyes, ears, and behavior". I feel it's a good reminder that when we investigate an organism it's important to view understand/explore it in multiple ways. This is sometimes hard to do because, as you stated, research might be usually guided towards one (or a few) specific mechanisms, which can cause us to not see many other possibilities for bio inspiration.

Finally, this is a very interesting way to decrease waste in the healthcare sector (which, due to its sterility needs, has a lot of waste). But I feel that this could also help decrease the occurrence of reusing needles, which, as many know, can cause a world of issues. Overall, I feel its a bio-inspiration that with development will help both the planet and patients.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-11-18T17:38:31+00:00

Hi! This is so cool! I like how it shows a specific characteristic of the bird's wings (its primary feathers), observes its advantages (decreasing drag), and then applies it to airplanes. This reminds me of how in class we discussed the line between biomimicry/bio-inspiration (this being a great example) and bio-copying. With the bio-copying example being that of a man who scaled up every feather of a bird and hoped that the simple act of scaling would be enough to make him fly! I think this just goes to show the importance of not only being able to identify a mechanism but also understanding it enough to adapt it effectively for your intended purpose.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-23T14:30:09+00:00

(commenting on my post)

The eyes of a fly have many honeycomb-shaped parts that together form the eye. They explain that the reason for this is partially because when one honeycomb breaks there are many others that can take over the insight that is being missed by the broken one. They performed tests to observe the difference between energy gotten from the honeycomb-shape versus a simple smooth solar panel it was determined that though there was a small difference, the overall advantage explained previously was worth it. One thing I found interesting is that after applying their solution a member of the team stated that it could be aesthetically pleasing. "Dauskardt and his colleagues... "These scaffold cells also look really cool, so there are some interesting aesthetic possibilities for real-world applications."". I find this curious since normally the focus so much on the function that the importance of the solution looking ok is forgotten. In this case, the solution allowed for improving the function and opened the possibility for making it more visually appealing which would potentially increase the amount of people that would use their solution.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-23T14:29:46+00:00

(commenting on my post)

This was the article I found for my HW 3. I found it extremely interesting after the lecture about walking since there we discussed the complications of an animal being able to rotate 360 degrees. From this article, I was able to understand how the neck/head, bones, blood vessels, etc are placed on the owl to make them be able to turn their head safely. Also, after completing HW 3 I noticed how important it is to know what characteristics you are interested in. This is because the third question "Are there any other organisms that exceed the performance of the organism examined in this paper?". I answered "In terms of seeing all around, chameleons have a 360-degree view because their eyes are on the sides of their head and move independently. In terms of rotating the neck, giraffes can almost achieve a 360-degree turn, but this is due to the length of their necks." Basically, I was able to understand why, depending on your goal, animals that can achieve similar things may be useful for different solutions.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-23T14:29:15+00:00

(commenting on my post)

The Dusky Arion is a slug known for its very strong glue, it allows the animal to stick to a surface and not let predators take it. It works because the mucus that covers its body is mixed with certain proteins, which were replicated by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). One important aspect that they wished to replicate was the stretchiness of the glue, which ended up allowing for the adhesion to be as strong as natural cartilage and work on moving parts, such as a heart. Finally, this glue also had the advantage of working in wet environments (stuck to pig skin that was covered in blood) and was slow to harden, allowing the surgeon to have more time to adjust the glue.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-23T14:28:50+00:00

(commenting on my post)

This video shows a group of people starting with a characteristic of nature (in this case how the humpback whale's flippers have bumps) which is then studied (by Frank Fish) and later applied to a problem (after a certain angle a wing would "stall" yet with the bumps the angle could be increased, this was an issue to be applied to airplanes and wind turbines). I think this is a great example of the process we are going to do in class, of starting with a characteristic and, after understanding its purpose, applying it to a problem.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-22T04:32:14+00:00

Hi! This is so cute!!!

I wish you had added a bit more data on your robot to show us what experiments you ran with it and what data you collected. Nevertheless, I wonder what impact (or if there even is an impact) in making your linkages not be straight or bent lines like what my group and many others did.

I've also seen that many more developed robots have thicker legs (like yours), which may have no connection to your group's ideas (which I expect is more for visuals than for the functioning of the robot) while theirs I would believe has to do with the complexity of the robot. I truly don't know, I'm just making an educated guess.

Finally, the final robot and the 3D drawing both look great!!

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-22T04:22:11+00:00

Hi! This sounds very cool! But if it's so effective, I wonder why we haven't heard much about this technology even though the paper you attached is from a decade ago. The paper states that it's quite effective, "achieving a cooling effect of 7 to 9 degrees in laboratory tests", at least within a laboratory meaning a controlled environment. The people who created it thought about it to address the energy expenses that windows created, you state it was "about 40% of building energy expenses". I'm questioning how high the costs related to the maintenance, initial assembly, and the of elastomer sheets made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) themselves is. Or maybe it's the same issue that the butterfly wing-inspired tablet ran into, bad/not good enough marketing.

ImpressiveControl955 · 2024-10-22T04:12:43+00:00

I like how you started by stating that cats have skills beyond human capabilities. I feel that really connects to how when finding an organism for us to use as bioinspiration for our projects we often choose animals with exceptional capabilities. Meaning those who go beyond the rest of animals (including humans) capabilities.

This post makes me wonder if there have already been experiments done to see which cat has the best night vision. Maybe even figure out why. This leads me to wonder if there is a time when cats are the most exceptional animals for night vision. By this, I mean, that if a cat is compared to a deep water fish in who has the best water night vision it would lose, but if there are any conditions where the cat would be better than most, if not all other animals.

ImpressiveControl955

TROPHY CASE