Mother Nature, Inventor
By Peter LloydAnimals inspire us in many ways. Some inventors even look to them for creative help with their inventions.
A company called WhalePower has designed a blade that mimics the aerodynamically efficient flipper of a humpback whale. They expect their invention to allow a turbine to capture more of the wind's energy at much lower speeds.
See the WhalePower.
My work on Animal Crackers with Stephen Grossman begins with the announcement that throughout history, animals have inspired many inventions.
For example, the study of bats suggested sonar. Caribou were the inspiration for snowshoes. William Harvey discovered how the circulatory system works by studying fish. Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome is patterned after the eye of a fly. Even the lowly barnacle yielded new adhesive products.
In his Good Solutions Imitate Nature discussion on The Hub, Bill Abramovitz calls out a proposal by a Scottish architectural firm to float lily pad shaped solar panels in a river. Other Hub members have been quick to add more invention inspirations from nature.
Tim Hurson reminds us that George de Mestral came up with the idea for velcro after digging burdock burrs out of his dog's fur. Krista Knuffman notes that the Wright Bronters gained insight into airplane wing design by studying the flight of birds. And Kevin Byron explains how paper was inspired by wasps' nests.
Is anyone surprised? Why shouldn't we find design inspiration in nature?
Mother Nature has had billions of years of trial and error, limited only by her own laws.
Animal Crackers develops previous work that recognizes Darwin's evolutionary process in the creative thinking approach of great innovators and inventors. We take it a step further: Mother Nature has solved every problem you'll ever encounter--mechanical, electronic, nuclear, etc. Animal Crackers merely steps its users through that process, helping to identify and find suitable animal adaptation analogies.
We also think we've elevated the status of animals. Zoos display them, where you can look at them and appreciate their unique features. But they have more to offer. Animals, plants, and all of nature offer insights into brilliant ways of solving problems.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.