Life Grows

A blog of nature's incorporation to design

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Biomimicry Shoe by Marieka Ratsma and Kostika Spaho

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Festo: BionicAnts and eMotionButterflies forming an intelligent smart factory hive

The main focus of the Bionic Learning Network from Festo are principles from nature that provide inspiration for technical applications and industrial practice. Last year we saw a bionic kangaroo and a flying penguin. And in 2013 a remote-controlled drone that flies and is in the form of a dragonfly.

This year they presented at the Hannover Messe 2015 their latest development: BionicANTs as large as guinea pigs and eMotionButterflies (weight: 30 g) which are intended to illustrate how individual systems can be combined into an intelligent hive system for smart factories and industry 4.0 applications.

For the BionicANTs, the Festo engineers have not only taken the delicate anatomy of the natural ant as a role model. For the first time, the cooperative behaviour of the creatures has also been transferred to the world of technology using complex control algorithms. “Like their natural role models, the BionicANTs work together under clear rules”, explains Dr.-Ing. Heinrich Frontzek, Head of Corporate Communication and Future Concepts at Festo. “They communicate with each other and coordinate both their actions and movements. Each ant makes its decisions autonomously, but in doing so is always subordinate to the common objective and thereby plays its part towards solving the task at hand.” In an abstract manner, this cooperative behaviour provides interesting approaches for the factory of tomorrow. Future production systems will be founded on intelligent components, which adapt flexibly to different production scenarios and thus take on tasks from a higher control level.

While the ants do the hard work, the bionic butterflies supervise the workflow.

The eMotionButterflies developed by Festo demonstrate complex issues from the world of future production such as functional integration, ultra-lightweight construction and communication between individual systems that is networked and optimised on a real-time basis. The aesthetically appealing bionic butterflies show the extent to which the virtual and real worlds can grow together. The coordination between the individual flying objects is effected autonomously and safely by means of a well-networked external guidance and monitoring system. The communication and sensor technology used, which constitutes an indoor GPS system, enables the butterflies to exhibit collective behaviour without danger of collision.The combination of integrated electronics and external camera technology with a host computer ensures process stability by means of an intelligent guidance and monitoring system.

Last but not least, they have recreated the tongue of a chameleon: “The FlexShapeGripper can pick up, gather and set back down several objects with the widest range of shapes in one procedure – without the need for a manual conversion”.

As always: Fascinating scifi prototyping. I’ll keep you posted with video material and english documents as soon as they are available.

[press release] [read more about the ants - PDF in german] [PDF in en] [more about the butterflies- PDF in german] [PDF in en] [picture credits: festo]

[nrdc]

So cool!

France just passed a law that mandates that all new buildings constructed in commercial zones must be partially covered by plants or solar panels!

Green roofs help reduce energy needs and also retain rainwater, alleviating issues with runoff.

Read more about the benefits of green roofs.

[styleandcreate]

A spectacular rooftop terrace in Chelsea, Manhattan, NYC | Photo via Sotheby's 

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[homelimag]

La Maison-vague by Patrick Nadeau, part of our feature on living green roofs

[ecorenaissance-blog1]

Green roofs give insulation, reduce water turbidity, and just look at it! I think an ideal green roof will grow food for the people living under it using edible native species!

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How One Architect Imagines The Future Of Sustainable Cities

(Source: Vincent Callebaut)

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Vincent Callebaut has the designs our generation needs. Even if they are challenging designs they open our eyes to a future limited by our imagination.

[staceythinx]

The Lotus Building in Wujin, China by Studio 505 is as smart as it is beautiful.

Studio 505 on the energy efficiency of their design:

The project has been designed to minimize energy usage- with over 2500 geothermal piles driven through the base of the artificial lake, The entire lake water mass and ground beneath is utilized to pre-cool (summer) and pre-warm (winter) the air conditioning systems for both the lotus and the two storey building beneath the lake. The project is also mixed mode and naturally ventilated and utilizes evaporative cooling from the lake surface to drive a thermal chimney within the main flower pod.

[ecorenaissance-blog1]

Awe inspiring beauty and sustainable design brought together. This building is a fantastic example of Biomimicry - borrowing nature's designs to create new structures.

[homelimag]

Eco Villa Concepts in Flavour’s Orchard, China by Vincent Callebaut Architecture (via Homeli)

[aredotna]

For the last 500 years, the locals of Nongriat in Meghalaya, India have grown several hundred bridges across the region’s numerous water channels, using just the roots of local ribber trees. Some of the bridges extend over 100 feet in length and are strong enough to support more than 50 people at a time. 

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This is beautiful environmental stewardship. Living with nature, instead of building around it.

[ecorenaissance-blog1]

Hi followers

(All two of you, lol). My blog is official started. Brief background: I'm a graduate of Juniata College with a degree in Zoology. I've researched in Pa, Kansas, Florida, and Texas. I noticed something: our living areas are too detached from nature, our agricultural lands are inefficient and profanely stupid. We need to change. I plan to study environmental studies/sustainable planning/urban sustainability in graduate school and get an architectural degree along the way. Living buildings, buildings that are ecospaces, these inspire and drive me. That's what I want to create.

[permaculturevillage]

at La Ecovilla community in Alejuela, Costa Rica

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VIDEO: Man-made leaf produces oxygen and could help us on future long-distance space journeys 

By Ben Hobson - RCA graduate Julian Melchiorri says the synthetic biological leaf he developed, which absorbs water and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen just like a plant, could enable long-distance space travel. READ MORE ON DEZEEN