Mimicry or Scrutiny? Striking a Partnership Between Engineering Design and Biological Research

The richness of the biological world is a testament to the diversity of life, the conditions under which it can endure, and the remarkable array of robust solutions to environmental challenges. Animals have, over millions of years, evolved complex computations to parse the richness of their natural sensory milieu, as well as mechanisms to transcribe this information into appropriate motor actions. For designers of mechanical systems and robotics, biology represents a vast library of possibilities and solutions. It is natural, of course, to seek to imitate these solutions in terms of robotic systems trying to address similar challenges.