The earliest tools used by human beings-wooden sticks and stone axes-are undoubtedly natural wooden sticks and natural stones; The use of bone needles is undoubtedly an imitation of fish bones ... The creation of all these tools and the choice of lifestyle cannot be said to be imaginary by human beings, but can only be said to be a direct simulation of substances and certain forms existing in nature. It is the primary creative stage of human beings, and it can also be said that it is the origin and embryonic form of bionic design. Although they are rough and superficial, they are the foundation of our development today.
In our country, there have long been examples of imitating creatures. According to legend, in more than 3000 BC, our ancestor Youchao imitated birds to build nests in trees to prevent the harm of wild animals. More than 4000 years ago, our ancestors "turned into cars when they saw the flying canopy", that is, they invented wheels when they saw the flying canopy rotating with the wind and made cars with wheels. The architecture of the mountain gate in front of the main hall of an ancient temple looks like an elephant in terms of its architectural structure. The pillar is round and thick, like an elephant's leg.
The industrious and brave working people in ancient China had long had all kinds of wonderful fantasies about the blue sea, the blue sky and the soaring goshawk. According to the historical records of Qin and Han dynasties, more than two thousand years ago, our people invented kites and applied them to military liaison. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Lu Ban, a craftsman of the State of Lu, first began to develop flying wooden birds. He was inspired by a kind of toothed grass blade that can cut the skin and invented the saw. According to Du Yang Miscellaneous Magazine, there was a Han nationality He Zhi in the Tang Dynasty, who said, "He is good at carving wood into the shapes of phoenix, crane, crow and magpie. When he drinks and pecks, it is no different from the truth. When he puts it on his abdomen, he can fly in the air, but it can be as high as 30 feet to 120 feet, and then he begins to descend. " During the Western Han Dynasty, some people made wings from bird feathers and flew down from a high platform, trying to imitate the flight of birds. The above cases are enough to show that the working people in ancient China had carefully observed and studied the flapping and flying of birds, which was also one of the earliest bionic design activities. The invention of a rocket weapon "Shenhuo Flying Crow" in Ming Dynasty also reflected people's desire to learn from birds.
The imitation of aquatic animals-fish by the working people in ancient China was also fruitful. The ancients gained the freedom of water transportation by imitating fish living in water, cutting down trees and chiseling boats, making fish-shaped hulls out of wood, and using fish pectoral fins and caudal fins to paddle and paddle. Later, with the improvement of the production level, the dragon boat appeared, which was influenced by many animal shapes. The rocket weapon "Fire Dragon Out of the Water" used in ancient water wars somewhat imitated the meaning of animals. The above examples show that the early bionic design activities of the working people in ancient China created extraordinary achievements for the development of China's splendid ancient civilization.
In the history of foreign civilization, it has also experienced a similar process. In ancient Greek mythology with rich production knowledge, some people made wings out of feathers and wax and escaped from the maze; Thiel invented the saw, which is said to be inspired by the shape of the fish's back bone and the snake's palate bone. /kloc-In the 5th century, German astronomer Miller made iron flies and mechanical eagles and performed an air show.
/kloc-around 0/806, Kelly, a British scientist and one of the founders of aerodynamics, imitated the spindle shape of trout and groundhog and found a streamlined structure with low resistance. Kelly also designed a wing curve that imitated the wings of birds, which greatly promoted the birth of aviation technology. At the same time, French physiologist Maret made a detailed study on the flight of birds. In the book Animal Machines, he introduced the relationship between the weight of birds and the area of their wings. Helmholtz, a German, also found that the weight of flying animals is directly proportional to the cubic of body linearity when studying flying animals. Helmholtz's research pointed out the limitations of the size of flying objects. Through the detailed study and careful imitation of bird flying organs, according to the principle of bird flying mechanism, people finally made a glider capable of manned flight.
Later, the designer designed the boom of the excavator according to the posture of the crane. During World War I, people got inspiration from the wild boar who survived the gas war and designed a gas mask by imitating the nose of the wild boar. What is the principle of a submarine that floats and sinks flexibly in the ocean? Although we have no evidence to investigate whether the submarine designer consulted the opinions of the biological community when designing the submarine, it is not difficult to imagine that the designer must know that the swim bladder is an important organ used by fish to change the proportion of their bodies with the water so as to rise and fall in the water. Frogs are amphibians. Sports workers carefully studied the frog's movement posture in the water and summed up a set of labor-saving and fast swimming movements-breaststroke. In addition, the fins made for divers are almost completely made according to the shape of frog hind limbs, which greatly improves the diver's ability to move in the water.