I-Corps: Information Services for Biologically Inspired Design

I-Corps：生物启发设计的信息服务

• 批准号: 1263633
• 负责人: Ashok Goel
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2013-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1263633&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Information; Services; Biologically; Inspired

Taking inspiration from nature to solve design problems has the potential to lead to major advances in almost every conceivable sphere of design and innovation. Thus, there is a growing global movement of designers interested in the practice of biologically inspired design (BID). However, the adoption and growth of the movement is limited by the fact that most designers are novices in biology. This causes two major issues: (i) slow, tedious search for biological analogues relevant to design problems, and (ii) slow, inaccurate and imprecise understanding of biological systems. Thus, there is a need for (a) information systems that provide access to biological knowledge from a design perspective, and (b) interactive tools that support the process of making biological analogies in conceptual design. Over the last several years, researchers have developed a suite of tools centered around an approach to semantically representing, indexing, retrieving, assessing, and delivering biological information relevant to design problems. This approach can form the basis for providing a range of information services to BID professionals and contribute to the growth of the movement. BID not only offers innovative solutions, but it can also help drive trends in sustainable design. Since nature does not take the "heat, beat, and treat" approach often taken by human produced technologies, innovation that mimics biological systems fosters sustainable design. Thus, in the long term, researchers believe that this project can help lead to measurable progress in sustainable design. The practice of BID is becoming widespread, encompassing emerging disciplines like biotechnology, robotics, nanotechnology, synthetic biology, etc. Thus, researchers expect that these information services can potentially accelerate the growth of emerging technologies in all these disciplines.

从大自然中获取灵感来解决设计问题有可能在几乎所有可以想象的设计和创新领域带来重大进步。因此，全球设计师对生物启发设计（BID）的实践越来越感兴趣。然而，由于大多数设计师都是生物学新手，这一运动的采用和发展受到限制。这导致了两个主要问题：（i）与设计问题相关的生物类似物的搜索缓慢、乏味，以及（ii）对生物系统的理解缓慢、不准确和不精确。因此，需要（a）从设计角度提供对生物知识的访问的信息系统，以及（b）支持在概念设计中进行生物类比过程的交互式工具。在过去的几年中，研究人员开发了一套工具，以语义表示、索引、检索、评估和提供与设计问题相关的生物信息的方法为中心。这种方法可以为向 BID 专业人员提供一系列信息服务奠定基础，并有助于该运动的发展。 BID 不仅提供创新的解决方案，还有助于推动可持续设计的趋势。由于大自然并不采用人类技术通常采用的“加热、敲打和处理”方法，因此模仿生物系统的创新可以促进可持续设计。因此，从长远来看，研究人员相信该项目有助于在可持续设计方面取得可衡量的进展。 BID 的实践正在变得广泛，涵盖生物技术、机器人技术、纳米技术、合成生物学等新兴学科。因此，研究人员预计这些信息服务可能会加速所有这些学科中新兴技术的发展。