© Rafael Aparicio Sánchez, 2012.

Translator: Raquel Derecho Moreno.

E-mail: contacto@biomival.com.

www.biomival.com.

Index

1. Introduction.2. Collection and processing of natural morphologies.3. Capturing Flamingo's beak. 4. Obtaining morphologies from MRI. 5. Inspecting the morphology. 6. Seeing data in four-dimensions.7. Examples with other morphologies.8. Simplifications. 9. Morphologies obtained with these methods.10. Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing.11.Simplifying or idealizing problems.12. About the Author13. Acknowledgements

TT

1. Introduction.

here are many terms to express the work of "emulating nature":

Innovation Emulating Nature.Innovation Imitating Nature.Biomimetics.Biomimicry.Biomimetrics.Ecological Engineering.Innovate with analogies about the Nature.And so on.

All are based on observing nature, seeing how nature has solved problems before us, and applying it.We have called "Imitating Nature" not ascribing to any that we have studied and giving an overview ofthem. The most relevant in our case is that we have tried not to stay in a theoretical way, but alsofinding practical applications, with simple examples, at low-cost. We are in a certain way, the peoplewho translate natural morphologies to the ones that can be used by designers.

There is, near each image with a link to an external

multimedia video or audio, a symbol like this. Click on the picture or the text,

not in the "play" picture. We do this because you can read on mobile. Next to a

3D picture that you can see in red-cyan glasses, you will see this symbol:

If you have no Internet connection, you can watch it later athome, on your laptop, workstation, etc.:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBgPtfkLHR4

You can see the videos in two dimensions, but we have configured some of them in three dimensions,and you can see with these glasses. For example, an image of a three-dimensional geometry, as follows:

You can see it three dimensional, like the following, with the glasses, (which you can buy for very low-cost):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VvlyctrLog

It's interesting because we need three-dimensional images of objects for researching and analyzing

natural forms, "surfing" inside these forms to understand how they work.

In the above example, we can see the depth of the beak and understand how fluid rotates within. Otherimages are shown in three-dimensional growth patterns would not be visible in photographs. Thepurpose of this e-book is interacting on information more than being passive.

A paradigmatic example

A paradigmatic example of "Innovation Inspired by Nature" is that Janine M. Benyus' web page, asknature.org, which demonstrates the problem faced by design engineers in the West RailroadJapanese, Japanese company that designed the bullet train Shinkasen. The main problem was that theycould not cut the sound exceeding environmental standards. The noise source was a pressure wavegenerated at the front of the train also running through a tunnel creating a pressure wave.

Bullet Train of JR West Shinkasen

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bro1-GEDZzk

Eiji Nakatsu, engineer of the J.R. West found in ornithology (study of birds) the solution. He used tosee how the kingfisher entered the water without making any sound (compared with the explosionwhich the pressure change as the train did). The solution to his problem was the beak of the kingfisher:it was the ideal morphology to pressure changes. The peak gradually increases its diameter from tip tohead in a way that reduced the impact, allowing water to flow, not being pushed by it.

Link: Kingfisher, inspiring morphology of the Japanese bullet train.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL8hTLGPRDA

Since the train was facing the same problem, Nakatsu designed the front of the Shinkansen with thisform, morphology, and as a result, not only make it less noisy, but also traveled to 10% faster with15% less electricity.

Is a case that clearly illustrates the procedure to follow, added that nature has solved many of ourproblems thousands to millions of years before us. Today many companies are benefiting from theprinciples provided by this discipline, as has been said, has many names and is based ultimately onemulation the "designs" and "innovations" of nature, as Festo in Germany, Teijin in Japan, Whalepowerin the USA, etc.

Traveling Plan

Throughout this e-book, we will show how capture natural morphologies, without damaging animals,and without disturb them. We use the most advanced technologies to obtain what we want from itsmarvelous "designs," without needing causing damages. The algorithm that we use has been proven invarious species, although vegetals, with success, with a very low-cost process.

This e-book is a summary of years of research in reverse engineering , ergonomics, Computer-AidedDesign (CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM), industrial engineering, etc. However, it is only anintroduction to this vast subject. This e-book is designed to be supported by various platforms andhopes that the text could be an excuse to search for sources in the links and investigate this wonderfuldiscipline.

FF

2. Collection and processing of natural morphologies.

or "capturing" natural forms, it is very important to obtain informationfrom them, to observe. According to some authors we must to leave

out, to nature. But, exit out, where? to see such a thing? When researchersdiscovered that shark skin has many functions, and that among them is thatof being resistant to bacteria, the fact that we go out and watch a shark divearound us will not reveal that information. Neither that is ideal forswimming due to hidrodynamic questions (although it can be inferred).When we have the shark near us, it can sense the beating of our heart, but

that question is one that we can not know a-priori. Where must we go then, to search the solutions?

If species are like libraries, it is very difficult to get to a library and find the answer to a technical issue,opening a random page to a random book. So, where must we look at? It stands to reason that the finsof whales will be more efficient than our equipment because they have survived thousands of years oftrial and error, although, not so logical to know that the lotus leaf cleans "itself alone" with rain water;the skin shark repelling bacteria; a type of palm in Madagascar which captures water; the algae emit"signals" that prevent the formation of bacteria; a tiny species that has a wheel as engine, or one thatuses a scourge promoted, or other nutrients to attract, and so on.

So first, once we have a technical problem, is seen in all of nature. And howcan we do that? How can we see a polar bear, a woodpecker, aprocessionary caterpillar, if not first in photographs, in books, in videos orin television? So the first important source of information are the images,studies, videos, literature, like the very interesting one AskNature.org aboutnature's strategies.

www.asknature.org

While not all the strategies (impossible), they are most relevant. It is interesting to contribute to thispage by adding content, strategies, products, since it will benefit any of us that someone else in theworld knowing that in our area we have a way of life anyone who has solved a problem we can face.

Another important way of obtaining information remain in the books anddocumentaries. For example, when we saw the image of the heart of thebook of James Bell Pettigrew, in the book The Vortex of Life by LawrenceEdwards, we remembered that time before we saw a documentary about adoctor who would have discovered the helical form of the heart. Finding theright words was very difficult, and was the key to find its work. It tookseveral weeks to find "Francisco Torrent-Guasp, M.D.," which was unveiledit, and his site and technical articles. This information helped us to comparein a book by Schauberger's, that there was a way to move the water that

was exactly the same way that moves the blood in the heart of mammals.

How do we design objects? Usually we copy each other, or try new ideas starting from zero. Let's putthe first simple example we have seen this morning: a blender. One of many is the following:

It has a power of 500 W, a "square" form at the bottom and "circular" in the top. The reason for this, wedid not know. In the market, there are other mixers such this one:

In which viewed from the cylinder, passing through other more or less ovoid, with elements that causethe flow goes towards the inside to make the tool approach crusher. In other types of mixers, operatingwith an extension which is inserted into a cylinder or a container where the product is introduced to beatlike this:

How would work the designer who imitates nature? First, he looks at the documents cited in the"giants": Pettigrew, Cook, Thompson, etc. In one of them, we could see a figure like this, whichcorresponds to a "Monosiga gracilis," drawn this way:

The document referred the book A Manual of the infusoria: including a description ofall Known flagellate, ciliate protozoa and tentaculiferous by W. Saville Kent. Vol III,"Plates." Seeing the similarity in shape, we decided to investigate what it did with thescourge that was in the center, as we had observed that "form found everywhere."What it did, was shaking the scourge to attract nutrients.

What suggested us this morphology? That the proper wayto generate a vortex of attraction (or for beating) would bea ball. And maybe a scourge would work well (as we do inthe "reversed" beaters). In another of the authors(Schauberger), we saw a similar form:

That is, without going into further details, that probablythis is the shape for a better mixer: the ovoid.

II

3. Capturing Flamingo's beak.

magine we need learning about the flamingo's (Phoenicopterus Ruber) peak, and we need to observeits habits. Must we go out to the lagoon and put next to the species? Of course, it is not necessary.

Maybe someone has done this work after. For example, we were looking exactly for images like this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKS7hM6Gb6I

In fact, we visualize as many videos as possible, documentaries, and so on. That gave us severaladvantages:

1. We did not disturb species. At least, not once more, in addition to the time that they wererecorded.

2. Often, they are protected by law, and it's no easy access to them.3. We did not have to move to where all of them are.

We will exemplify it. For a design, we studied four species: Phoenicopterus ruber (Red Flamingo), theegg of the Herodontus Portusjacksoni (Port Jackson Shark) because we saw the helix in the books ofthe various authors; and the Turbidae, because we knew we could make them interesting logarithmicforms, given what we learned before; and Mytilidae (mussels).

The Phoenicopterus Ruber is occasionally found in the Albufera and in parts of the Spanish peninsula. Inthe documentary by Felix Rodriguez de la Fuente, marked the areas where it was usually found (and notso many) and the La Albufera in Valencia, according to Seo BirdLife Seo, had only a few small groups,had to watch from afar, and also from a private property.

The Mytilidae (mussels) is a common species in the Mediterranean, and we had it easy to watch.

The species Portusjacksoni Herodontus shark lives in South Australia. It means an enormously long andexpensive trip to see a form that can simply be compared by the altruistically information that peoplehave put online.

The species of Turbidae, it depends on which species, in everywhere on Earth.

Another issue we found was that while it may be easy for us to write "mole cricket" to learn how to diginto the earth, we should find synonyms like "escorpión cebollero" (like is named in Spanish). However,that just find were videos or documents produced worldwide by Spanish speakers, so the range shouldbe opened if we looked for the species in its name in English, in this case would be "mole cricket."However, is better searching for example in the Wikipedia, the scientific name, usually in Latin. In thecase of the mole cricket is "Gryllotalpa brachyptera." If somebody writes it in latin, probably has takenthe effort to add references, and knows the specie, being for example a biologist.

The same occurs with other species. For example, if we remember that the lobster has a pair oftweezers interesting to analyze, should be sought by its scientific name, Homarus. We can also use thenumber of documentaries grouped by theme. If we see in nature a group of fish, it is like a flock ofbirds, and these are like a wildebeest. Evidently, it must be, for some reason, and it is: protection. A

predator will attack a solitary individual but as a group, the probability of being attacked is lower. Thereis a strategy in this case sought.

We knew how the flamingo used the peak due to a documentary by Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente. Weobserved that the animal used the peak as a tool, as a hook, and pump, to fight, and all these functionswere performed more efficiently than human backhoe, a pick, a shovel, a spear, and the "nose" of theConcorde to fly.

One of our ideas was capturing waves' energy. I.e., in the north of Spain is very usual see greatamounts of waves, and the level of profitable energy is very high. It can be seen in this image andvideo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LtFT0GKC3Y

The first thing was observing videos on the feeding of the species. We needed a closer look at how theanimal used its beak, and visualized it thanks to Galapagos.tv videos. From this video, we could see howthe peak was moving, the fluid in and out on both sides of this, which gave clues, if entering the wateron both sides, would push up the peak, which would, if make rotary turbine "bidirectional." In thisvideo, we can see how all that we assumed on how to move the water flow, was really as we hadstudied:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07EyyVnyKrA

We also analyzed the existing literature, and we found the article "The filter-feeding and food ofFlamingoes (phoenicopteri)" by Penelope M. Jenkin, Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, 1956.

http://youtu.be/iHmhxZ3oXTE

We knew we wanted to analyze the peak of flamenco. How? One of the most useful ways is throughMRI. We obtained MRIs of peak of a flamingo from Digimorph thanks to the University of Texas andTimoty Rowe. We request information from the page, which provided them to us, and come to be likethe one shown below:

How interpret it? How much of what was seen on the picture was bone, skin, flesh? What part was theupper beak? We could see the tube where the specimen was introduced, hard parts, soft parts, parts ofthe skull, tongue... and so on.

We need professional veterinary advice, which told us how to interpret what we were seeing. Inaddition, through the images one by one, looked strangely, there were parts that appeared anddisappeared and others were difficult to interpret. Some disappeared and appeared simply because theycorresponded to sinusoidal parts, such as slides that had on the edges of the beak. Other parts seemedto "fly" alone, as unconnected islands, which was because that particular section only saw that part, butwas "connected" in other images. A common error at first was clearing these "islands" or "isolatedparts" so that was a loss of information.

There are other sites for particular species as in the case of fish, fish digital library , we assume thatrequesting information for research questions, they will have no problems if it is for educationalpurposes. There is a huge amount of human morphologies and MRI information in the Internet, whichmay be useful in terms of procedures for obtaining, processing and analysis of natural forms, and in theveterinary treatment data. It is important when dealing with this type of morphologies, looking for workthat has already been done, and be aware that much of the information is yet available.

In digimorph.org page, has not only three-dimensional images of the skull, but MRIs, and a descriptionof how the data has been taken, videos, descriptions of the specimen, species, and how the informationwas obtained in the scan and what entity or organization did this. It has a number of natural forms,going from fossil to fruits through different animal species.

http://digimorph.org/specimens/Phoenicopterus_ruber/

The page also contains an "inspector" which allows to observe the sections in the three main orthogonalplanes (with a java applet):

http://digimorph.org/specimens/Phoenicopterus_ruber/applet/inspector.phtml

It also has an extensive library of each species, after treatment, in this case, the Phoenicopterus Ruber:layers, videos both coronal and sagittal and horizontal, with skin, in three different views, and threedynamic cutting, apart additional videos on the flow of blood within the skull and so on.

Reading the description, of how they took the information, we find that refer to a field of 73.0 mm.which was the length that could be the skull of a flamingo. In this tube, seen on the image, a littlelighter than the background that was made by cuts, which gave images of 1024 x 1024 pixels, in a totalof 600. The spacing of each of these resonances corresponding to 0.264 mm. between slices. Given thatthe resolution of the pixels was in the XY plane of 0.0713 x 0.713 and Z-axis was 0.264, that resulted ina volume of 0.0713 x 0.713 x 0.264, which is called "voxel," which is the smallest unit of volumerendering. That is, as the pixel is to the plane, the voxel is to the space.

They indicated that reduced to treat images from 16 to 8 bits. At the end, they reduced the data with avoxel of 0.12 x 0.12 x 0.18 mm. For us, with fewer powerful computers, a voxel of this size was toosmall. The smaller the voxel, the biggest information, and therefore, more difficult to calculate.

Different software was compared to see, which was most appropriate for the treatment of biological,medical and veterinary data. We did many tests and use the Amira program that allowed data to adjustthe display contrast for better inclusion of MRIs. Automatically, with the data of the voxels, the sectionscould be visualized in the orthogonal directions (e.g., that there was a need for magnetic resonance inthe three axes or oblique):

One of our first tasks was to identify one by one in each of the sections, the constituent parts,understand the MRI. This helped us understand the morphology, and study it "thoroughly." Sections canbe seen here in a virtual animated sequence.

It may also be a format with sections, and a fast rendering volume actually takes seconds when thepotential of software is known.

We could even change rapidly in volume rendering to give a three-dimensional impression almostimmediately. For Amira (referred to Avizo in modern versions), this approach is very fast and allowsanalysis on the way almost immediately, to change the camera position, lighting and the type of imagewe want to see, diffuse, mirror, white and black, and so on:

http://youtu.be/iHmhxZ3oXTE

It is important to know how we are getting the data and what purpose it’s being used. For example, thissoftware kept in various formats, the most useful for rapid prototyping being stereo lithography(usually extension ".stl"), but, not to refer, treat, or store information. Furthermore, we should checkhow graphic exchange protocols could save the information (IGES, Step, STA, VDA, x_p, etc.), becausefor prototyping, both physical and virtual programs will ask us some specific formats, and we observedno provided, although beware designs formats "compatible," they were not completely, needing a postprocessing work.

Later, it was easy to develop a virtual prototype that could be treated (in some programs) or to send toanother software for the treatment of surfaces, volumes, or the curves obtained. On the Internet, thereare many comparisons between these programs in design, manufacturing, engineering, and computer-assisted integration and between medical programs and / or veterinarians.

For example, in this picture, we can see how after processing the data and quickly, could have all threeorthogonal sections and a three-dimensional image that was already operating to begin to "see" andanalyze the morphology, which could analyze this, without having to treat with physically specimens, allvirtual:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WajotNoKWuM

Adjusting simple parameters, we can see the eyes, the arteries, soft parts, only with the approach thatthe software did. There were also modulations and options for improving these views, which we notfully exploited, such as viewing three-dimensional orthogonal image interpolation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OspgGMQQJdY

Here is the example of obtaining other morphologies of birds. We tried several to prove the capacity ofour way of working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pm9469EuFvA

Here we have it with another volume rendering:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwacduwci2A

Here is seen in another point of view:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNA49TVAicc

To take the power of the software, we must become familiar with the software chosen, the mostappropriate or best suited to each use. In most cases, manufacturers allow a trial period which allowstime to become familiar with it, see its capabilities, interface, power, features, weaknesses, and so on.

We worked with several of them proving that the differences were not so great. There was much suchsoftware. We found a wide range, including, for example: AccuImage, Analyze, AutoVisualize-3D, BrainVoyager, FiAlign, FiRender, GE Advantage Windows, Imaris, MountainDog, MRVision, Plug n View 3D,Resolution, Stradx, SurfDriver, Vitrea, LIFE VizPack, VolumePro vg500, VoxBlast, VoxelMan, VoxelView,3D-DOCTOR, 3DVIEWNIX, 3D Virtuoso.

We also had in freeware version: Amira and Avizo (Visage Imaging), etdips, FreeSurfer, IMOD, NIHNavigational Aids for Virtual Endoscopy, Osiris, TomoVision, Vis5D, VolView, VolVis, VoxBlast Light,vtk, 3D Slicer.

Now we are going to show the process of acquiring the morphology of one specie starting from theMRI.

4. Obtaining morphologies from MRI

With the right software, we can therefore, understand the movements of the animal to study. We cansee a tutorial on how the information is obtained with Amira Visage Imaging, below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5d7jSSGFi_A

We could obtain geometry after simplifying the number of tetrahedral polygons or surface trianglescomposing it, to maintain a form similar to the original, without losing of information.

Then we treated the data in order to reduce the usual output format (in this case, stereo lithography) toother formats. There are interesting programs to develop this like Geomagic (which has an associatedcost) or Meshlab (that not).

RR

12. About the Author

afael Aparicio Sanchez's is Mechanical Engineering, taught in the Polytechnic University of Valencia.He was expert in Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM/CAE/CIM), reverse engineering, three-

dimensional measurement and complex surfaces study in Centro Tecnológico Metalmecánico AIMME(Valencia, Spain) with a grant from IMPIVA of the Generalitat Valenciana. After he worked in freelanceconsulting and teaching in Instituto Madrileño de Formación IMF, SGS-Tecnos and ESIC-Empresa, Valladolid and Alcoy Universities, alternating with periods employed in Health and Safety(Mutua Levante, Ainsap Prevención ) conducting studies on health, safety and job design based inergonomics.

Subsequently, he studied the Masters in Philosophy at the Universidad de Salamanca on Ontology andMethaphisics and its relation to science and psichology, analyzed the work of Mitchel Resnick on"emergent phenomena," the intelligence of Physarum polycephalum and the work on ants conducted byDeborah Gordon, what collaterally led to study the work of Janine M. Benyus and imitation of natureand Gunter Pauli and Blue Economy.

The philosophy gave him the point of view to look for the first sources and therefore, analyzed theworks of Leonardo Da Vinci, the very large and wonderful of Pettigrew, Cook and Thompson andSchauberger, the generalization of ecology as physical science from Margalef and Odum, leading tomore authors, Franco Lodato in engineering, or Gaudi in architecture.

Rafael proposed himself conducting empirical tests of its heuristic and procedures to catch morphologiesfrom nature, making designs in various disciplines with these teachings, developing a process that couldbe simply explained, which is part for this work and some of the designs shown on the empirical parts.

He currently lives in Valencia, and provides a multimedia e-books, and he is preparing courses on "Howto Imitate Nature," with material like photos and video samples of prototypes and tutorials, developedwith natural morphologies, CAD/CAM formats, more detailed explanations of the process imitation ofnature, analysis of the authors reviewed throughout this book, and so on.

As in any system, it is very important for us "feedback," so any suggestions will be welcome.

www.biomival.es

contacto@biomival.es

aparicio.rafael@gmail.com

design protections or hammers? How is it possible that mimicking the shape of the beak of a bird, thetrain was achieved faster and cheaper? Can we apply what we see in nature to run a company? How tomanage an emergency hospital? What about the question of designing new turbines? Do we teachsomething as harmful as a kind of processionary, as beautiful as a red flamingo, and as common asseashells? The answer is yes in all cases.

This ebook discusses the practical process about imitation of nature, in collaboration with severaluniversities, technology centers, university students and doctors. This is the result of two decades ofinvestigations and two years of transcriptions . In this e-book, we explain how to obtain naturalmorphologies from the natural model, to the CAD/CAM one, with the maximal respect for the naturalspecies.

The "Imitating Nature" series is provided of studies from AIDO (Optical Technology Center of Valencia),information provided by the University of Texas (Digimorph), assistance from the University ofSalamanca (Faculty of Philosophy), the Polytechnic University of Valencia (EUITI, ETSII, ETSID), andOkayama University of Japan, Department of Chemistry, through the Autonomous University ofBarcelona, among many others. With studies that emerged from the collaboration with Dea - Brown &Sharpe, suppliers from Almusafes at Ford Factory and many others. Illustrative videos, tutorials... wenot theorize: we do things at very low cost. Ideal for reading on smartphone, e-reader or tablet.

Rafael Aparicio Sánchez taught Mechanical Engineering in the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, specializing in Reverse Engineering in AIMME, Aided Manufacturing, Ergonomics and taught too Masterin Philosophy from the University of Salamanca.