While refering to the term biomimicry, I often came across the terms bionics or Biomimetics do these terms convey the same meaning or they are separate branches of studies?
Biomimicry and biomimetics are the same in my understanding (I use the first one), and refer to the learning from natural engineering solutions to implement new technology. This can be interpreted technically by engineers or more inspirational e.g. by architects. In general the functional mechanism is the focus, not necessarily the biological shape of its implementation, because the engineer has to take the properties of engineering materials into account. For example studying a dragon fly might result into the development of a helicopter, not a dragonfly model.
But bionics means something different - that is the replication of biological systems with technical means. This term is usually used in the context of limp prosthesis, artificial skin, etc.
A confusion arises sometimes from the German word "Bionik" which means biomimicry in German. Many excellent and early biomimicry examples come from Germany (e.g. the Lotus effect), so its easy to get confused.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Linguistics
- Composition Studies
- Publication