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Bio-Inspired Engineering Design: The Impact of Information Representation on Access to Inspiration from Outside One’s Discipline

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Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) Technical Session 4

Tagged Division

Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED)

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

15

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42697

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/42697

Download Count

239

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Paper Authors

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Hadear Ibrahim Hassan Texas A&M University

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Hadear Hassan is a Doctoral Student in the J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She holds a BSc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University. Her research interest includes smart and sustainable manufacturing and engineering education. Hadear Hassan received the J. George H. Thompson Fellowship in 2022 and the 2023 Association of Former Students Distinguished Graduate Student Award: Excellence in Teaching.

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Luis Angel Rodriguez

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Abheek Chatterjee

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Astrid Layton Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3790-2916

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Astrid Layton is an assistant professor at Texas A&M University in the Mechanical Engineering department and received her Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia. She is interested in bio-inspired system design problems and is currently working at the intersection of ecology and engineering for the design of complex human networks and systems. She is also a member of the Institute for Engineering Education & Innovation at Texas A&M.

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Abstract

Engineering designs inspired by the natural world are often highly innovative, offering novel solutions to human problems where engineers had initially only seen trade-offs. Unlocking the full potential of biological-inspired engineering design can be difficult due to the need for knowledge transfer between biology and engineering. As a result, most bio-inspired designs have been the result of either chance observation or dedicated studies. Efforts have been made to develop normative bio-inspired design processes and identify approaches that can aid non-biology experts to find and implement bio-inspired strategies, however true accessibility is still lacking. Understanding connections between how biological information is represented (e.g., figures, terminology specialization, and age-based reading levels) versus the ability of an engineer (and especially a student) to produce successful bio-inspired designs is critical. This paper reviews a preliminary classroom study that sought to understand 1) how the source of biological information impacts resultant ideation success, 2) how the form of the biological representation influences resultant solutions, and 3) what the critical characteristics of a biological inspiration’s representation are for it to be successfully transformed into an engineering idea. The long term goal is to understand critical characteristics needed for successful knowledge transfer from non-engineering disciplines to create methods that broaden the prevalence of bio-inspired and other interdisciplinary designs.

Hassan, H. I., & Rodriguez, L. A., & Chatterjee, A., & Layton, A. (2023, June), Bio-Inspired Engineering Design: The Impact of Information Representation on Access to Inspiration from Outside One’s Discipline Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42697

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