How does bionics use knowledge of living systems to design physical systems?

Bionics is the science of studying living systems to gain knowledge that can be applied to the design of artificial physical systems and machines. Rather than attempting to slavishly copy biological details, which is often impractical due to differences in scale, bionics researchers focus on understanding the underlying principles of how nature functions.12

This interdisciplinary field draws inspiration from biological systems to solve engineering problems, particularly in two main areas:

• Information Processing: Researchers study how living organisms receive, transmit, and process information. For example, the nervous system has inspired the development of electronic devices like the neuristor, which mimics the way neural impulses travel without attenuation. Additionally, human pattern recognition and associative memory models are used to improve computer memory and data retrieval systems.2
• Energy Transformation and Storage: Bionics examines how biological organisms efficiently transform and store energy, such as the chemical processes used by plants for solar energy storage or the mechanical efficiency of animal muscles.2

By applying these biological insights, engineers can design more effective artificial systems that mirror the sophisticated capabilities evolved by living creatures over millions of years.2