Bionics: The New Age Engineering

How do fireflies or luminescent bacteria emit light? Can their natural mechanism be replicated in the laboratories? When a bird alights, why does it not need to make a run as an airplane does on the runway? The hulls of a boat built in the manner of thick dolphin skin and radar imaging imitating the echolocation of bats are examples of bionics in engineering.

Bionics is an exciting field of engineering activities. On the one hand, biologists are deciphering the structural and physiological mechanisms that explain the functional properties of plants and animals; on the other, bionics engineers are developing a sophisticated and advanced 'fabrication tool kit', as it were, to utilise their salient features. These engineers are constantly on the job of adopting design concepts from nature in order to bridge the performance gap between biological structures and mechanical analogs.

Bionics, or bionical creativity engineering, is concerned with the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology through application of biological methods and systems. The coinage of the word, bionic, is credited to American physician Jack E Steele in 1958. Loosely translated from Greek, it means 'life-like'. However, modern usage of the term, bionics, also refers to it being the union of biology and electronics.

Bionics is based on the premise that technology should simulate living forms for greater optimisation and efficiency. Scientists and engineers are trying to create technology that mimics the prowess of birds and animals in the natural world. How do fireflies or luminescent bacteria emit light? Can their natural mechanism be replicated in the laboratories? When a bird alights, why does it not need to make a run as an airplane does on the runway? The hulls of a boat built in the manner of thick dolphin skin and radar imaging imitating the echolocation of bats are examples of bionics in engineering.

Nature is Teacher

Nature is an unending source of innovative ideas and new solutions for industrial applications. In factories, automation technology involves routine tasks like gripping, moving and positioning goods. It also includes controlling and regulating processes. We can indeed find simple and energy-efficient solutions for all of these tasks from nature. Bionics studies natural phenomena and learns from them.

Since the time of evolution of life, living organisms have developed successful mechanisms to adapt to their environment. So it is only wise and logical that engineers endeavour to transfer such strategies and mechanisms on to technological fields.

Scope of Bionics

Direct imitation of nature is a difficult task, if not an impossible one. So bionics researchers focus on the principles behind the working of nature. Living beings can be studied from multiple angles: for instance, animal muscle is an efficient mechanical motor. Similarly, plants store solar energy in the form of chemical energy with zero wastage; the nervous system is a more complex system of information transmission than the largest phone networks in the world; and the human brain has the capacity to solve problems, which exceeds the capacity of the most powerful supercomputers.

Bionics studies how a living system makes use of information and how under altered conditions, alternative courses of action are evaluated. Every new situation is related to a situation experienced before. This 'pattern recognition', an important element in human action, is also a matter of interest in bionics.

Bionics in Medical Science

There have been revolutionary changes in the world of medical science thanks to the innovations in bionics. Bionic implants have augmented or restored physical functionality of differently-abled persons; they have also augmented cardiac and neurological functions in limited cases. Major application areas like vision, hearing and orthopaedics have benefited from the bionics industry.

Vision bionics are bioelectronic implants meant to restore functional vision to people suffering from partial or total blindness. Auditory bionics comprising cochlear implants, auditory brainstem implants and auditory midbrain implants, provide an artificial link between the source of sound and the brain for people with hearing impairment.

Orthopaedic bionics are designed to restore motor functionality to the physically challenged. Today, prosthetic limbs are being replaced by bionic limbs which provide greater mobility.

Bionics in Robotics

The bionics industry has entered a relatively new space – that of robotics – in a major way in recent times. Robotic exoskeletons are electromechanical attachments meant for patients who have limited or no muscle control, to acquire "motorized muscles". Exoskeletons are expected to play a defining role in the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered strokes or spinal injuries, and those who have been afflicted by degenerative neuromuscular diseases.

Robotic exoskeletons have also made their way into the industrial arena. This may give rise to the human-machine hybrid one day – the ultimate artificial human fictionalized in so many futuristic Hollywood movies.

Twelve years back, at the Hannover Fair, a robotic arm in the shape of an elephant trunk neatly picked up an apple from a box and offered it to the then German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. German firm Festo, a global player now, had manufactured the artificial trunk, inspired by the fact that it is the only gripping organ in nature which is as multifunctional as the human hand. This gives a glimpse of the shape of future bionics. The natural prowess of birds and animals is being improvised to such an extent that the power, efficacy and capacity of the particular mechanism are highly augmented.

The Road Ahead

Bionics holds the greatest potential in the health care sector. It can make a big difference in how surgeries are performed thanks to all the technological advancements it has to offer. However, in India, bionics has still a long way to go in replacing the traditional way of surgery or treating diseases. According to experts, current technologies in bionics research have limitations in achieving absolute integration of mind, body and machine. Bionic products do not replicate the complex fluid movements of the human body, nor are they capable of communicating with the brain directly.

Be that as it may, bionics is still an exciting field of engineering activities. On the one hand, biologists are deciphering the structural and physiological mechanisms that explain the functional properties of plants and animals; on the other, bionics engineers are developing a sophisticated and advanced 'fabrication tool kit', as it were, to utilise their salient features. These engineers are constantly on the job of adopting design concepts from nature in order to bridge the performance gap between biological structures and mechanical analogs. The bionic devices may look odd at first appearance, but their resemblance in the organic world still gives them an air of familiarity.

Rapidly increasing populations, increased number of people suffering from organ failures, rising incidents of road accidents leading to amputations, fast advancements in the bionics sector, and a huge scarcity of donor organs for organ transplantations have directly or indirectly contributed to the growth of the bionics market in India. However, there is still a stringent regulatory framework in place for use of artificial organs and bionics in the country. Fear of malfunction or failure of device has also restricted the growth of the market.

As a career option, bionics holds great promise. Bionics engineers design, develop, construct, test, deploy and repair artificial devices and technical systems which contain some of the features of a biological or physiological system, or that of a living organism. In the future, such artificial devices and systems may in fact have all of the features of a biological or physiological system.

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