An approach to validation of technological industrial design concepts with a bionic character

摘要

Various approaches that are based on the consideration of systematic procedures for the creation of new concepts inspired by nature, following both an information flow that is oriented in a top-down manner from the problem to the solution, and that is oriented in a bottom-up manner from the solution to the problem have been proposed and are available in several literature sources. From the existing methods, a selection of three methods oriented form the problem to the solution was considered for analysis considering their expected support to enable achieving five design goals, considered both typical and encompassing of design projects that seek inspiration form nature. These goals were deemed representative of the high level aims that are pursued by those employing a nature inspired approach to generation of solutions to design problems, even if each and every one of the goals considered may not necessarily be present in every single design project. A major area with lack of support given by the three methods detected was support to verification procedures, enabling the verification of the level of achievement of the goals sought. Therefore, for enhanced support to the use of the three methods scrutinized, within systematic approaches to design, a validation process with tangled steps is presented, encompassing the five goals identified for design based on analogies with biological solutions.