所有動物，無論是鳥類還是哺乳動物，都是天生的發(fā)明家，可以啟發(fā)汽車工程師的創(chuàng)新技術(shù)設(shè)計，這就叫做仿生學(xué)。
“當人們最開始有飛翔的念頭時，他們做的第一件事就是觀察鳥類。”發(fā)明家Pete Foley站在SAE2016全球汽車年會Tech Hub 技術(shù)中心的演講上，滿懷信心地告訴參展的觀眾，“如今我們?nèi)匀辉谙蜃匀粚W(xué)習(xí)，大自然中有太多可以借鑒的‘研發(fā)項目’，正因為如此，我對仿生學(xué)的潛力堅信不移。”
但我們想要真正飛起來，并不能僅僅靠觀察鳥類。
他說，“你必須真正深入到每一處細節(jié)，了解鳥類在飛翔時的空氣動力學(xué)狀態(tài)，它們的結(jié)構(gòu)性材料組成和功率質(zhì)量比，你還得了解它們的熱力學(xué)計算數(shù)據(jù)。”
過去10年來，已經(jīng)擁有超過100項專利的Foley一直致力于將行為學(xué)的概念應(yīng)用到產(chǎn)品設(shè)計之中。
他斷言，“如果你遇到一個問題，那我基本可以確定，自然界中一定有什么地方存在現(xiàn)成的解決方案。”
問題是該去哪里尋找這些解決方案。Foley表示，“第二個挑戰(zhàn)在于材料與技術(shù)之間的匹配。一般來說，自然和人類工程師選擇的材料非常不同。”他指出，自然界中的解決方案通常需要經(jīng)過一定時間的適應(yīng)與進化，才能真正成型。
如何闡述一個問題，會對最終能否找到解決方案產(chǎn)生極大影響。
Foley表示，“你必須有足夠的抽象思維能力，才能在自然界中找到合適的類比。”舉例而言，當工程師希望解決一個油泵的問題時，如果他能以正確的方式描述這個問題，那一定可以從與生物學(xué)家的交流中受益匪淺。
Foley表示，“如果你能將困難描述成‘我遇到了液體在系統(tǒng)中流動的問題’、‘我遇到了液體在系統(tǒng)中分配的問題’，又或是‘我遇到了在存在流動液體的情況下，需要持續(xù)保持壓強的問題’，將遇到的困難總結(jié)到這種程度，相信你一定可以從生物學(xué)家那里收獲良多。”
現(xiàn)實中存在大量借鑒自然的技術(shù)應(yīng)用。“仿生學(xué)在汽車相關(guān)行業(yè)中也有應(yīng)用。”Foley指出，日本新干線(shinkansen)高鐵獨特的空氣動力學(xué)前臉設(shè)計，就模擬了翠鳥的形狀，“翠鳥可以在幾乎不受任何干擾的情況下，直插水中。另外，還有部分火車的結(jié)構(gòu)設(shè)計，借鑒了雪鸮的翼尖形狀。雪鸮是一種大鳥，幾乎不會發(fā)出任何聲音，因此設(shè)計師就從雪鸮那里‘偷師’，從而降低了火車的噪聲。”
仿生學(xué)能否在汽車行業(yè)大放異彩，這仍有待確定。
“我認為人們很難將從自然中學(xué)到的東西與我們遇到的困難對應(yīng)起來，”Foley表示，“如果你想通過自然的啟發(fā)實現(xiàn)創(chuàng)新，那一定要學(xué)會耐心，還要做好辛苦研究的準備。”
作者：Kami Buchholz
來源：SAE《汽車工程》雜志
翻譯：SAE 上海辦公室
2016 SAE Congress: Is biomimicry in your design future?
Animals, birds, and mammals are natural-born innovators that can inspire automotive engineers to create novel technologies. The term for such an influence is biomimicry.
“When people first wanted to fly, they went and looked at birds,” inventor Pete Foley cheerily reminded a 2016 SAE World Congress audience at the popular Tech Hub area in Detroit's Cobo Hall. “We’re still borrowing from nature. The reason I think [biomimicry] has so much potential is because there is so much R&D in nature.”
But just observing birds isn’t the entire answer to flight.
“You really have to get into the details. When it comes to flight and birds, that means you have to understand the aerodynamics of how a bird flies. You have to understand the structural materials of a bird. You have to understand power-to-weight ratios. And you have to understand the [thermal] computations,” he said.
For the past decade Foley, with more than 100 granted or published patents in his portfolio, has applied behavioral science to product design.
“If you’ve got a problem, it’s almost guaranteed that somewhere out in nature it’s been solved,” he asserted.
The first difficulty is knowing where to look. “The second challenge is matching materials and technology. Nature and human engineers tend to work with very different materials,” Foley said. He noted that nature-found solutions typically require a considerable amount of adaptation to elicit a usable application.
How a problem is defined can greatly influence the solution outcome.
“You have to get the right level of abstraction to allow analogies,” said Foley. As an example, if an engineer wanted to solve a fuel pump problem, a conversation with a biologist could be very beneficial—if the fuel pump problem is presented in the right context.
“If you can frame the issue in terms of, ‘I’ve got a problem with moving liquid around the system’, or ‘I’ve got a problem with distributing liquid in a system’, or ‘I’ve got a problem keeping pressure consistent through a system where liquid is moving around.’ If you can describe things at the right level, you can have some very good conversations with biologists,” Foley said.
There are notable examples of nature’s ways being adapted for technology applications. “Biomimicry is being used in related industries,” Foley said, citing Japan's shinkansen high-speed trains whose aerodynamic noses mimic a kingfisher bird’s shape. “A kingfisher can penetrate water with virtually no disturbance whatsoever. And some of the smaller [train] structure is [akin] to the wing tips of a snowy owl. It’s a big bird, and it’s completely silent. They’ve stolen some of the technology from the snowy owl to reduce the noise of those trains.”
The future of biomimicry in the automotive industry is yet to be determined.
“I think that it’s been quite hard for people to make that translation from the technology in nature to the problems we’ve got,” said Foley, “If you want to use nature as inspiration for innovation, you’ve got to be patient. And you’ve got to be willing to roll your sleeves up.”
Author: Kami Buchholz
Source: SAE Automotive Engineering Magazine
在SAE全球汽車年會的Tech Hub大廳中，多項專利所有者Pete Foley向一名在場觀眾解釋，工程師可以借助仿生學(xué)“找到在其他任何地方都聞所未聞的解決方案?！?
日本新干線高鐵的設(shè)計借鑒了翠鳥的外形，從而實現(xiàn)了更低噪聲、更低電耗及更高的行駛速度。
日本新干線高鐵的設(shè)計借鑒了翠鳥的外形，從而實現(xiàn)了更低噪聲、更低電耗及更高的行駛速度。