Title: Supporting process and product knowledge in biomimetic design

Authors: V. Srinivasan; Amaresh Chakrabarti; Ujjwal Pal; B.S.C. Ranjan; Sai Prasad Ojha; R. Ranganath

Addresses: Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, India. ' Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, India. ' Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, India. ' Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, India. ' Centre for Product Design and Manufacturing, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, India. ' Spacecraft Mechanisms Group, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore – 560 017, India

Abstract: This paper describes a support that combines process and product knowledge to support design for variety and novelty in biomimetic design. GEMS of SAPPhIRE as req-sol, a systematic framework for designing and Idea-Inspire, a computational tool to assist ideation respectively provide process and product knowledge. The support has been applied in an industrial project for designing novel concepts for a lunar vehicle mobility system. One of the concepts is chosen for physical and virtual modelling and testing. The support has enabled identification of critical requirements for the vehicle, and development of a wide variety of ideas and concepts to fulfil these. The use of the support suggests an increase in effectiveness of the designers by enlarging their idea space and concept space, thereby potentially improving variety and novelty.

Keywords: biomimetics; Idea-Inspire; mobility systems; lunar vehicles; process knowledge; product knowledge; biomimetic design; vehicle design; modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDE.2011.045132

International Journal of Design Engineering, 2011 Vol.4 No.2, pp.132 - 158

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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