A snaily Conclusion

This will be the very last post of our blog. It was certainly an amazing journey we had studying snails together! In this final post let us conclude things that we have shared so far and hopefully you too, learned a thing or two! Snails are beautiful creatures aren't they? 

The fact that how snails can actually climb over sharp knives without hurting themselves ignited lots of our imaginations.In this three months we kept a snail house and so much have happened since then. For instance there was once where the Mushi House was almost flooded because the owner (You Liang) forgot to carry the house indoors during a rain! Luckily the mushis were smart and climbed and stick themselves on the wall. No casualties was found luckily! Furthermore, snails are really easy to rare and really take their sweet time hiding during the day. Simply put fresh leaves into the house and provide little amounts of water is all they need. Did you know snails do really need to drink water? All they need it to moisture their body.

It is shocking to think how we always see this tiny creatures but never made effort to spent time and observe them. Sharing the learning process with our friends got us to look at how amazed they were when we said something that was new to them. 

Lastly, let us thank our lecturer, Dr. Yong Leng Chuan and Ms. Ch'ng, and our guest lecturer Prof. Dr. Mushtak was is the dean of the School of Engineering who gave us an inspirational lecture on the purpose of Biomimetics in engineering. "Biomimetics is a method to think, it provides us a way to think differently, and that thought is what differentiates us with other engineers", he said. Big thanks to the members, Melissa, Clinton, Koay, Yong Ni, Navid and You Liang who came together as a team and successfully presented this very blog. Cheers!

P.s. So what's our next pet?? XP

Individual Reflections

This week let us listen to some of the voices of our members who went through this project!

You Liang:

For me, the most interesting proposed used of biomimicry was an idea to produce an environmental friendly, biodegradable lubricant after conducting the reverse engineering process. The slime that is produced by a snail plays a major role in its everyday travel. Interestingly it is able to slip the snail from one place to another yet enough to hold the snail onto a surface even upside down. Lubricant is a very important liquid in our daily life. Almost every machine, the engine in our cars, the ceiling fan that we use needs lubricant to reduce friction in between two objects. But unfortunately most of the lubricants that we have are made from crude oil that easily harms the environment.

However, the proposal remains an idea yet to be designed. Further study on lubricants would have to be done before it can be done. Nonetheless, it triggers an unique idea to produce lubricants the way a snail does.

Working as a team no doubt made the project much easier. Every individual contributes an idea and easily we could brainstorm lots out of it. Then the work comes down to filtering, comparing and choosing the best idea to be published. Being inspired by creatures certainly ignites lots of interesting and random ideas never thought before.

Koay Geuk Hwa:

The most interesting proposed used of biomimicry was the building shading inspired by snail shells. This is because of the materials used are recycled and processed wood which are environmentally friendly. The interesting part is that the design provides better ventilation and people can prevent from using air conditioning in order to save energy usage. This sustainable design is surely patentable as it fulfills the engineering challenge nowadays that emphasizes on sustainability. Besides, the special design of making a micro-climate shape is unique enough to be approved as it gives a better illustration and innovation design in engineering and architecture field. The interrelationship between the two fields brings advantages to the world. 

Working as team makes this project easier. When people gather, tasks can be dislocated easily and mannerly to ensure the tasks in the project are done successfully.

Mushi's shell colour is helping it to camouflage! 

Clinton Otten:

Biomimicry is the application of nature by observing and being inspired from everything natural around you. Throughout the semester, we have learned the many applications of biomimicry such as how bees communicate and the power of solar energy conversion in plants. Another example of biomimicry that I found exciting is the application of desert snail’s ability to survive in hot environments and applying that knowledge to create a building with self-cooling abilities. This is a great example of architecture, engineering and biomimicry all together. Finally, as a team we have worked together nicely with everyone to study, and write about our snail raising adventures. I’ve learned that teamwork has made this study blog a great success.

Micro-climate structure inspired by desert snails

Melissa:

The most interesting concept of biomimicry inspired by snails is the roof foam insulation for houses. It’s amazing what these little creatures can do and inspire us to create foam insulation. The foam insulation is inspired by how the snails keep themselves warm using their shells. The shells trap a layer of air cushion and insulate the inside of the snails during cold weather. By engineering this concept in roof technologies, our houses become instantly warmer. This is usually used during colder seasons.

This design is patentable as it focuses on sustainability. When the weather becomes too cold, individuals will usually switch on the heater to keep themselves warm during the winter. However, with this deisgn, the usage of heater can be reduced and the wastage of electricity can be reduced as well.

By working in a team, more interesting ideas can be generated and the workload of the project can be shared equally as well. Apart from that, with each team member having a specific task to complete, this helps the member to focus only on the specific task. This ensures that the outcome of the project being successful since each member is segregated to their own tasks.

Yong Ni:

The most interesting concept of biomimicry inspired from snail is the heat reflective surface of the snail’s shell. It is amazing to know that how this small creature able to survive in humid high temperature areas. From this biomimicry studies, the structure of the snail is being studied and it is found that the shell of the snail has this ability to reflect the heat from the environment. This special ability of heat insulation from snail will be able to inspire us on how we can utilize the structure of the snail’s shell and incorporate it into the design of building for better heat insulation. This design is definitely patentable as well as has great economic potential as it meets the need of the society in searching for a more sustainable way to create buildings that has high heat insulation performance. Throughout this entire blog project, working as a team has definitely ease our workload and increase the performance of the group. More ideas are able to be generated from the brainstorming session and great appreciation to the group leader (You Liang) as well as the team members (Clinton, Melissa, Koay and Navid) who make this blog study a success. 

Navid:

Inspiring from the nature and the living organisms is the main focus of bio mimicry studies, which helps you to look at the nature in a different angle of getting inspired from organisms and different creatures. I really appreciate the fact that I have gotten the chance of being involved in a bio mimicry process by studying and observing a snail. I have learned that although snails might seem like small creatures that are all over the cities, jungles and deserts, they are designed to survive in different situations with their extraordinary capabilities. The most interesting finding for me was the shell of the snail, which is about 3000 times stronger than the mineral that have formed the shell. This illustrates that the strength of a component is not only achieved by the material but the architecture of these molecules is what that makes these shells extremely strong. When a shell is hit, force is deflected away from the site of impact down microscopic pathways of low resistance and taken on what scientists call a “tortuous route.” The energy applied to the nacre is divides into angles and goes through some certain pathways because of the architecture of the nacre and eventually the force is too weak to crack anything. This arrangement can be used in the glass design and be taken further into all the existing materials by introducing micro-architectural features based on natural models, they could change the properties of existing materials.

Reverse Engineering

Introducing a technique to reverse engineer!

Using the reverse bio-engineering worksheet. We performed a sequence of question and answering on our observations of our mushis this far. And then we came out with exciting ideas that might just be the future! Try it out on anything and you might be just a step away from a "lightbulb" moment!

REVERSE BIO-ENGINEERING WORKSHEET

1.     Examine the biological artifact with the intent of discerning:

a.     What does the biological artifact do?

• Climbs onto rocks and trees to seek for food and to avoid drowning
• Feeds on fruits, plant leaves and sometimes even bones and stones for calcium
• Since the first snail came above the water surface, they have evolved to breathe using lungs.
• Hide themselves in their shell when they feel threatened by either, their prey or the climate condition.

It may seem soft and brittle to us humans, but the amazing arrangement structure of 
the snail shell is actually 3,000 times stronger then if it were its individual minerals.  

b.     How does the biological artifact work?

• Carries a protective shell that is considered part of the body where the important organs are.
• Uses secreted mucus to prevent cuts from sharp terrain by reducing friction
• Mucus is also used to climb vertically and also to stick onto surfaces vertically and even upside down.
• Have both male and female reproductive organ to improve reproductivity (hermaphrodites)
• They have lots of small and strong teeth to be able to chew on calcium carbonate stone

Did you know? Every snail has more than 25,000 teeth while you and I only have 32 of them!

c.      What might the biological artifact’s “requirements” have been?

•  The ability to digest calcium carbonate and through its mantle, build layer and layer of it through years of growth makes nacre. It is known as the nature's strongest material known to human.
•  The body of snail is hydrophilic to attract water (Like a sponge!) in order to keep itself moist.
• The slime or mucus that is excreted by the snail is lubricate enough to crawl over rough terrain unharmed yet is adhesive properties allow it to stick on to the wall.
• Tentacles of the snails is very sensitive to touch and smell. It is the fastest moving part of the snail to react quickly when in touch with danger.

2.     Relate the biological artifact’s features to the artifact requirements listed in 1)c):
a.     List the biological artifact’s features (geometry, materials, mechanisms, etc)

• Very compact and carefully arranged calcium carbonate layer.
• Teeth on the radula directs food into the snails stomach.
• The sliding plate structure of the snail shell is able to shift forces applied to it.

Mushi Eating! Might need a microscope to see whats really happening there.

b.     How do the biological artifact’s features support the requirements?

3.     Form and Function

4.     Engineering Inspiration

a. Suggest a new product or process based upon what you’ve learned in 1-3 above

• New high quality bio-lubricant to replace motor oil
• Colour white roofs to reflect heat radiation
• Create bio-glass that combines features of biodegradable plastic and glass material

Notice how mushi is able to slide on the rough wood surface and turn upside down to hide from the glaring sun!

5.a. Do you think your product will work if it was manufactured?

Partially, because lubricants today are mainly based on oil which in turn isn’t eco-friendly. In countries with few environmental laws, motor oil is disposed directly into sewage systems and drains without any pretreatment at all. This ruins water treatment systems as well as poisons the environment. This is good reason to at least begin research and improve any exist products to match current market lubricant oils. 

This strong unbreakable glass can be manufactured by applying the right set of procedures on to the glass. Using computer programs that can model impacts on glass, the scientists designed their own system of paths. They used a laser to etch their configurations onto existing sheets of glass, and found that the glass with channels was 200 times tougher than before. This architecture can be implemented to glass at the stage of its manufacturing and these glassed can be used for heavy-duty applications.

5.b. Do you think you can raise funds to pay for manufacturing? How do you raise funds?

The amount of funds raised might only be enough for small operation. The best way to raise funds is to pitch your ideas to the public through websites such as Kickstarter. This makes raising funds easier as it follows a democratic process of voting with your money. By pitching the idea of a cheaper, biodegradable, nature inspired lubricant oil that will do minimal harm towards the environment.

5.c. Do you think many engineers explore solutions from nature into their inventions? 

Many great engineers in the past have used concepts and inspirations from nature in their inventions. This includes the invention of Velcro and the invention of Flight, which is all, based on observing nature and learning from animals. Today, more and more solutions are concern with sustainability. Engineers today should look into biomimicry to improve the current inventions today to adopt more sustainable traits for future generations to come. 

Besides, biomimicry also provides design methodologies and techniques to optimize engineering products and systems such as the re-derivation of Murray’s law, which in conventional form determined the optimum diameter of blood vessels, to provide simple equations 12for the pipe or tube diameter which gives a minimum mass engineering system.