The science of creating artificial systems with some of the properties of live systems is known as bionics. Bionics, like cybernetics, is an interscience field rather than a particular science. Bionics and cybernetics are sometimes referred to as two sides of the same coin. Both employ models of biological systems: bionics to come up with fresh ideas for useful artificial machines and systems, and cybernetics to figure out why live things behave the way they do.
Bionics is thus distinct from bioengineering (or biotechnology), which is the use of living organisms to perform specific industrial tasks, such as the culture of yeasts on petroleum to produce food proteins, the use of microorganisms capable of concentrating metals from low-grade ores, and the digestion of waste by bacteria in biochemical batteries to provide electrical energy.
Nature mimicry is an old concept. Throughout history, several innovators have modeled devices after animals. Nature-inspired design provides a number of advantages. Most live things on the planet today are the result of two billion years of evolution, and machines built to function in environments similar to those of living beings can benefit from this vast experience. Although direct replication of nature may appear to be the simplest method, it is often difficult, if not impossible, due to size differences, among other factors. Researchers in bionics have discovered that understanding the fundamentals of how things function in nature is more beneficial than slavishly copying specifics.
The second stage is to conduct a broad search for natural inspiration. Living creatures may be investigated from a variety of perspectives. Animal muscle is a highly efficient mechanical motor; plants store solar energy in a chemical form with nearly 100% efficiency; information transmission within the nervous system is more complex than the largest telephone exchanges; and human brain problem solving far exceeds the capacity of the most powerful supercomputers. Information processing and energy transformation and storage are the two core disciplines of bionics study.
The information network of living beings follows this basic pattern: external impressions are received by sense organs, which are then coded into signals and transferred by nerves to the brain’s processing and memory centers. Pit vipers of the Crotalinae subfamily (which includes rattlesnakes) have a heat-sensing system in a pit between their nose and eyes. This organ is so sensitive that it can detect a mouse from a distance of only a few meters. Despite the existence of considerably more sensitive man-made infrared detectors, bionics can still be used.
Profit from the viper’s studies. First, understanding the concept of energy transformation occurring in the rattlesnake’s infrared pit, as well as the method by which the nerves are activated in the absence of an amplifying mechanism, would be intriguing and potentially useful. The odour-sensing organ of the silk moth, Bombyx mori, is another spectacular example. The chemical released by the female can be detected by the male in quantities as little as a few molecules.
The signal is diluted as it travels over a conductor, such as a telephone line, and amplifiers must be added at intervals to enhance it. The neural impulse released by sense organs does not lessen as it travels through the axon, which is not the case for the animal nerve axon. There is just one way for this urge to travel. These characteristics allow the nerve axon to perform logic operations.
The neuristor, a semiconductor device capable of transmitting a signal in one direction without attenuation and performing numerical and logical operations, was invented in 1960. The neuristor computer, which was inspired by a natural model, mimics the dynamic behavior of natural neural information networks; each circuit can serve sequentially for different functions, similar to how the nervous system does.
Another subject that bionics researchers are interested in is how a live system uses information. Humans analyze potential ways of action under changing conditions. Every circumstance has some resemblance to a previous experience. “Pattern recognition,” a crucial component of human activity, has bionic implications. Learning procedures are one technique to create an artificial machine with pattern-recognition abilities. Experimental versions of such a machine have been created; they learn by making and changing connections among a vast number of different routes in a network of pathways. This learning, on the other hand, is still primitive and far from human.
The way their memories are arranged is the first significant distinction between existing electronic computers and the human brain. The major challenge with either a live being’s or a machine’s memory is retrieving information once it has been stored. The process used by computers is known as “addressing.” A huge rack of pigeonholes can be compared to a computer memory.
each with a unique phone number or address (location). If the address—that is, the pigeonhole number—is known, it is feasible to locate a specific piece of information. Human memory operates in a totally different way, relying on data association. Information is retrieved based on its content rather than an artificially inserted external URL. This distinction is both qualitative and quantitative. Man-made memory devices are currently built employing associative principles, and this subject has a lot of potential.
The method in which electronic computers and the human brain cope with information is the second major distinction. A computer is used to process accurate data. Humans accept ambiguous input and do less-than-rigorous processes. Furthermore, computers only do extremely basic elementary processes, but can produce complicated outputs by completing a large number of these simple operations at a rapid rate. The human brain, on the other hand, works at a slow speed but in parallel rather than sequentially, providing several findings that may be compared (see also artificial intelligence).
Energy is stored in the living world as chemical molecules, and its utilization is always accompanied by chemical processes. Plants store solar energy through complicated chemical processes. Chemical changes provide the energy for muscle activity. Chemical light is created by living creatures such as mushrooms, glowworms, and some fish. When compared to thermal engines, the energy transformation is very efficient in all cases.
Understanding how these transitions occur in living material and the nature of the complicated role performed by living membranes is making progress. Man-made artificial-energy machines may be able to overcome some of the restrictions of molecular complexity and fragility, resulting in better results than natural membranes.
