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The purpose of this study is to examine the energy savings in the indoor environment, using strategies that adopt the characteristics of nature, called biomimetic solutions. This research designed a biomimetic window system to bring daylight into interior spaces in educational buildings where daylight cannot be reached. Specifically, this study assessed how the daylight that was achieved via a biomimetic window system would affect energy savings using an energy simulation method.

This study explored how biomimetic methods would affect the building environment and which biomimetic method would involve the building's energy saving with daylight. The research intended to develop a novel biomimetic window system that can bring daylight to the basement floor of an existing building on a university campus to find out how much the biomimetic window system would affect the energy savings of the building. Referring to the existing building's layout and structure, energy simulation models were developed, and the energy consumptions were estimated.

Simulation models proved that the biomimetic window system has sufficient performance to bring more daylight to the basement floor of the building. Furthermore, it was confirmed that the use of the biomimetic window system for the building could reduce energy usage compared to the actual energy usage of the current building without biomimetic windows.

First, this study was adopted as a computer-designed simulation method instead of using a real-world system. Although this study designed the biomimetic window system based on previous studies, it should be considered the possibility of other problems when the system is actually built in. Second, it is necessary to predict how much an initial budget is required when the system is built. It means that this study did not calculate the lifecycle cost of the biomimetic window system. It will also be necessary to compare energy consumption to the required initial budget. Lastly, this study was simulated based on weather data in cold regions, and it did not compare/analyze different climate regions. Different results may be predicted if the biomimetic window system is built in different climatic regions.

This research showed new practical ways to capture and transmit solar heat and light using a biomimetic solution. Furthermore, using the proposed novel biomimetic window system, the amount of energy reduction can be calculated, and this method could be applied in the interior non-window spaces of academic and related types of buildings.

Biomimetics are expected to contribute to sustainable environmental management; however, there has been no exploration of industry perceptions by using empirical data. This study aims to identify the trends and perceptions of biomimetics. The industrial sectors in Japan and international patent application trends are analyzed.

An online survey to identify the perceptions of staff members in Japanese private companies (n = 276) was conducted. Japan is an emerging country in terms of the social implementation of biomimetics, and this paper can provide insights into other such countries.

It is identified that the strength of connections to biomimetics differs across industrial sectors. The respondents from companies that use nanoscale biomimetics tend to have the knowledge of, and experience in, biomimetics. Regarding the overall understanding of patent applications, Japanese private company employees require knowledge of patent application trends and country rankings as potential factors influencing the development of biomimetics.

Knowledge transfer and sharing of experience among engineers and researchers of nanoscale technologies and urban scales are necessary to facilitate biomimetic advancement.

The results of the first survey and an analysis of the perceptions of staff members in private companies in Japan are provided to show the challenges in the social implementation of biomimetics. The results can be referred to for the social implementation of biomimetics in emerging countries. The method of this study can be applied to an international comparative analysis in future research.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how biomimetics can be applied in sensor design. Biomimetics is an engineering discipline that uses nature as an inspiration source for generating ideas for how to solve engineering problems. The paper reviews a number of biomimetic studies of sense organs in animals and illustrates how a formal search method developed at University of Toronto can be applied to sensor design.

Using biomimetics involves a search for relevant cases, a proper analysis of the biological solutions, identification of design principles and design of the desired artefact. The present search method is based on formulation of relevant keywords and search for occurrences in a standard university biology textbook. Most often a simple formulation of keywords and a following search is not enough to generate a sufficient amount of useful ideas or the search gives too many results. This is handled by a more advanced search strategy where the search is either widened or it is focused further mainly using biological synonyms.

A major problem in biomimetic design is finding the relevant analogies to actual design tasks in nature.

Biomimetics can be a challenge to engineers due to the terminology from another scientific discipline.

Using a formalised search method is a way of solving the problem of finding the relevant biological analogies.

The paper is of value as most present biomimetic research is focused on the understanding of biological phenomena and does not have as much focus on the engineering design challenges.

This paper aims to provide an insight into recent biomimetic sensor developments.

Following a brief introduction, this paper considers a number of specific sensor R&D activities which involve the use of differing biomimetic concepts, including the fabrication of artificial sensing organs, emulating human senses, novel uses of biological structures and systems exploiting biologically‐inspired behaviour.

This paper shows that a range of different biomimetic design concepts are being applied to sensors that respond to a range of physical, gaseous and chemical variables. Robust, multi‐sensor systems are being developed which emulate biologically‐inspired behaviour.

This paper provides an up to date technical review of a range of differing biomimetic sensor designs and concepts.

Since the inception of aerospace engineering, reducing drag is of eternal importance. Over the years, researchers have been trying to improve the aerodynamics of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) aerofoils in many ways. It is proved that smooth-surfaced NACA 0012 aerofoil produces more drag in compressible flow. Recent research on shark-skin pattern warrants a feasible solution to many fluid-engineering problems. Several attempts were made by many researchers to implement the idea of shark skin in the form of coatings, texture and more. However, those ideas are at greater risk when it comes to wing maintenance. The purpose of this paper is to implement a relatively larger biomimetic pattern which would make way for easy maintenance of patterned wings with improved performance.

In this paper, two biomimetic aerofoils are designed by optimizing the surface pattern of shark skin and are tested at different angles of attack in the computational flow domain.

The results of the biomimetic aerofoils prove that viscous and total drag can be reduced up to 33.08% and 3.68%, respectively, at high subsonic speed when validated against a NACA 0012 aerofoil. With the ample effectiveness of patched shark-skin pattern, biomimetic aerofoil generates as high as 10.42% lift than NACA 0012.

In this study, a feasible shark-skin pattern is constructed for NACA 0012 in a transonic flow regime. Computational results achieved using the theoretical model agree with experimental data.

The purpose of this paper is to describe recent research into biomimetic imaging and vision systems.

Following an introduction, this paper discusses a range of biomimetic imaging and vision system research activities and their potential applications. Brief conclusions are drawn.

This shows that biomimetic design concepts, many based on insect vision, are being applied widely to prototype imaging systems. These exhibit features such as wide fields of view, hyperacuity and infra‐red detection and offer prospects to enhance the capabilities of such systems in a wide range of applications.

This paper provides details of recent biomimetic imaging research, which has potential in a range of robotic and other applications.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the wide range of biomimetic sensor technology and innovations.

The reader is introduced to biomimetic sensors, their types, their advantages and how they are different from traditional sensors. Background information is also provided regarding sensor design, inspiration and innovation.

There are two approaches to sensor design, which lead to diverse advantages and innovations. Classification of biomimetic sensors indicated which natural senses are underutilized by sensor designers and researchers.

The paper provides information of value for those seeking innovative sensor designs and research information for those who want to research in this area.

This paper aims to design a multi-layer convolutional neural network (CNN) to solve biomimetic robot path planning problem.

At first, the convolution kernel with different scales can be obtained by using the sparse auto encoder training algorithm; the parameter of the hidden layer is a series of convolutional kernel, and the authors use these kernels to extract first-layer features. Then, the authors get the second-layer features through the max-pooling operators, which improve the invariance of the features. Finally, the authors use fully connected layers of neural networks to accomplish the path planning task.

The NAO biomimetic robot respond quickly and correctly to the dynamic environment. The simulation experiments show that the deep neural network outperforms in dynamic and static environment than the conventional method.

A new method of deep learning based biomimetic robot path planning is proposed. The authors designed a multi-layer CNN which includes max-pooling layer and convolutional kernel. Then, the first and second layers features can be extracted by these kernels. Finally, the authors use the sparse auto encoder training algorithm to train the CNN so as to accomplish the path planning task of NAO robot.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of recent progress into the development of biomimetic adhesives, particularly those that mimic the attachment mechanism of the gecko lizard's foot.

This paper first discusses the discovery of the gecko's adhesion mechanism. It then describes key “gecko glue” developments and summarises the properties of experimental adhesives that exploit this effect. It concludes with a consideration of anticipated applications.

This paper shows that, following the discovery of the gecko's adhesion mechanism in 2002, which is based on van der Waals forces, biomimetic adhesives have become the topic of a major research effort. These developments are poised to yield families of novel adhesive materials with superior properties which are likely to find uses in industries ranging from defence and nanotechnology to healthcare and sport.

The paper provides a unique insight into the latest developments in biomimetic adhesive technology.

The purpose of this study is to develop new biodegradable magnesium alloy. Magnesium possesses similar mechanical properties to natural bone; it is a potential candidate for resorbable implant applications. However, in physiological conditions, the degradation rate of Mg is too high to be used as an implant material.

In this research, Zn, Sr and Ca were chosen as alloying elements; a coating was deposited on the MgZnSrCa alloy surface by means of a biomimetic technique. The corrosion rates of the uncoated and coated specimens were tested in simulated body fluid.

The hydroxyapatite coating formed on the MgZnSrCa alloy surface and the hydroxyapatite layer markedly decreased the corrosion rate of the MgZnSrCa alloy.

A homogenous hydroxyapatite coating was formed on the MgZnSrCa alloy surface by using a biomimetic coating technique. The biomimetic hydroxyapatite coating markedly reduced the corrosion rate of the MgZnSrCa alloy, and the largest decrease in wastage rate was 44 per cent.