Watch Ingo Rechenberg, a German scientist as he tries to decode the science of bionics
Learn about bionics.
Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz
Transcript
NARRATOR: Ingo Rechenberg is a scientist working in the field of bionics and he's trying to decode the blueprint of nature, hoping to apply these secrets of life to pioneering technologies by pirating product lines of nature. He's studying this little chap, the sand skink from the Sahara. With their ultra-smooth skin, these lizards can "swim" through loose sand.
INGO RECHENBERG: "We have to look at the natural world around us with our eyes open. But sometimes I'm just astonished how long it takes for the penny to drop. This creature was there in front of us in the desert the whole time and then suddenly we think: Hey! There must be a reason why they can do that. That's something we could apply to technology."
NARRATOR: At the Institute of Bionics and Evolutionary Techniques in Berlin, Rechenberg and his team are trying to unearth the secret behind the skink's skin. In a series of tests, sand is sprinkled on to surfaces made from materials of varying degrees of hardness and smoothness like glass and various metals. The result is always the same. They all abrade quicker than the lizard's scaly skin. In the mean time, researchers have discovered interesting structures on the surface of the scales. These may well be responsible for the skin's extraordinary trait. Perhaps this intriguing surface structure could inspire the development of particularly low-wear materials.
The scientists in Berlin are also investigating another, quite different field: aerodynamic wing design. Rechenberg's team are asking questions about evolution and the flight of birds. Using wind tunnels, the researchers are attempting to gain a full understanding of the precise structure of birds' wings. This will enable them to devise new wing surfaces for the aviation industry. They're also interested in how evolution works. Rechenberg's team are simulating its processes by applying the evolutionary principle of mutation to their experiments. How they will proceed with the following experiments depends on trial and error. The team is trying to find the optimal aerofoil camber, the one that offers the least flow resistance possible. This is something that's hard to calculate mathematically. So instead Rechenberg is relying on trial and error. How far each of these six rods should push or pull the tube is decided completely by chance, by tossing these chips. If this process results in a aerofoil camber that optimizes flow, then this goes on to become the basis - the parent, so to speak - of a new round of chip-tossing. Thus, steady progress is made towards the perfect form.
Rechenberg has used experiments like this to develop a computer program that simulates evolution. It can, for example, optimize the construction of bridges. Over the course of many small mutations, a design emerges for a particularly light yet stable bridge. This is one technical application that has been inspired by nature and that in some ways works better than optimization processes worked out by careful mathematical calculations. And if the starting conditions are changed, the program correspondingly proposes different solutions. What it comes up with may seem crazy at first, but as far as evolution strategy is concerned, there's no such thing as a bad solution.
INGO RECHENBERG: "We have to look at the natural world around us with our eyes open. But sometimes I'm just astonished how long it takes for the penny to drop. This creature was there in front of us in the desert the whole time and then suddenly we think: Hey! There must be a reason why they can do that. That's something we could apply to technology."
NARRATOR: At the Institute of Bionics and Evolutionary Techniques in Berlin, Rechenberg and his team are trying to unearth the secret behind the skink's skin. In a series of tests, sand is sprinkled on to surfaces made from materials of varying degrees of hardness and smoothness like glass and various metals. The result is always the same. They all abrade quicker than the lizard's scaly skin. In the mean time, researchers have discovered interesting structures on the surface of the scales. These may well be responsible for the skin's extraordinary trait. Perhaps this intriguing surface structure could inspire the development of particularly low-wear materials.
The scientists in Berlin are also investigating another, quite different field: aerodynamic wing design. Rechenberg's team are asking questions about evolution and the flight of birds. Using wind tunnels, the researchers are attempting to gain a full understanding of the precise structure of birds' wings. This will enable them to devise new wing surfaces for the aviation industry. They're also interested in how evolution works. Rechenberg's team are simulating its processes by applying the evolutionary principle of mutation to their experiments. How they will proceed with the following experiments depends on trial and error. The team is trying to find the optimal aerofoil camber, the one that offers the least flow resistance possible. This is something that's hard to calculate mathematically. So instead Rechenberg is relying on trial and error. How far each of these six rods should push or pull the tube is decided completely by chance, by tossing these chips. If this process results in a aerofoil camber that optimizes flow, then this goes on to become the basis - the parent, so to speak - of a new round of chip-tossing. Thus, steady progress is made towards the perfect form.
Rechenberg has used experiments like this to develop a computer program that simulates evolution. It can, for example, optimize the construction of bridges. Over the course of many small mutations, a design emerges for a particularly light yet stable bridge. This is one technical application that has been inspired by nature and that in some ways works better than optimization processes worked out by careful mathematical calculations. And if the starting conditions are changed, the program correspondingly proposes different solutions. What it comes up with may seem crazy at first, but as far as evolution strategy is concerned, there's no such thing as a bad solution.