Vol.

4Issue 2December 2015

Newsletter
International Society of Bionic Engineering

NEWSLETTER
ISBE
ISBE Newsletter
Sponsored by the International Society
of Bionic Engineering (ISBE)
Editor in Chief
Luquan Ren
Associate Editors in Chief
Jianqiao Li
Runmao Wang
Assistant Editor in Chief
Ximei Tian

1202 Administrative Building,

Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street,
Changchun 130012, P. R. China
Tel: +86-431-85166507
Fax: +86-431-85166507
E-mail: secretariat@isbe-online.org
office@isbe-online.org
Website: http://www.isbe-online.org/

Issue 2 2015

2. Zhendong Dai

NEWS AND EVENTS

Published twice a year by the office of

Secretariat, ISBE

1. IWBE 2015
2. Biomimetics Workshop 2015
3. Sino-German Symposium on Biomimetics
4. The 5th Meeting & International Workshop
of BioApproNFS-Wett
6. 3M-NANO

Address:

1. Marc Weissburg

Yue Gao

Assistants: Ximei Tian, Yue Gao

MEMBERSHIP

5. Bionic Digital Library

Director: Runmao Wang

2015

CONTENTS

Executive Editor

Office of Secretariat, ISBE

ISBE

December

7. Innovation Competition

ACADEMICS

11

1. Some ideas to chew over

2. Design of LARMbot, a new Humanoid
with Parallel Mechanisms
3. Hovering Insect-Inspired FlappingWing
Micro Air Vehicles
4. New Adjustable Biomimetic Hemi-pelvis
Prosthesis for Pelvic Reconstruction
5. Bionics has a distinct unique approach

UPCOMING ACTIVITIES

18

1. ICBE16
2. CIMTEC 2016
3. Welcome to Living Machines 2016
4. ICAIRBM 2016

Issue 2 2015

Members

ISBE Newsletter

Marc Weissburg (USA)

Board of Directors & Fellow of the ISBE

Members

he International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE) is an educational, non-profit, non-political

organization formed in 2010 to foster the exchange of information on bionic engineering research,
development and application.

ISBE membership is open to those who have manifested a continuous interest in any discipline important

to bionic engineering research as evidenced by work in the field, original contributions and attendance at
meetings concerning bionic engineering research.

r. Marc Weissburg is a Professor of

Biology, and the co-director and founding
member of the Center for Biologically

Inspired Design at Georgia Institute of Technology.

An ecologist by training, hes become an accidental
bio-inspired designer through his interests in using
engineering techniques as ways to investigate
biological phenomena. Although this continues to
be an important research area, he became confused
somewhere and started to use his biological
knowledge

in

to

address

human

challenges.

Alarmingly for him, a number of his colleagues have

800
GROWTH CHART OF THE MEMBERSHIP

ISBE is made up of 800 Individual Members coming from 51 different countries and regions and 6

called him an engineer because he likes to solve

to understand animal navigation by means of

problems! This kind of mixing of role and identity is

chemical signals distributed by flow. Identifying the

one of the more interesting and compelling features

strategies animals use to navigate through turbulent

of biologically inspired design in his view, and one of

chemical plumes is impossible without knowing

the chief reasons why he sticks with it, despite this

the spatial and temporal distribution of the signal

meaning hes always poking his nose into things that

molecules. This requirement led Dr. Weissburg into

are not part of his formal training.

collaborating with experts in fluid mechanics who

Dr. Weissburg began collaborating with engineers

together developed a real time system for large scale

simultaneous 3D visualization of navigating animals

continents of the world. There are two classes of Members: Individual Member and Corporate Member.

and chemical signal distribution. By understanding

the algorithms animals use to find chemical sources,
Dr. Weissburg and his colleagues were able to
Implementation

implement hypothesized rules in autonomous

Tell me your secrets, little crab!

MEMBERSHIP DISTRIBUTION

Issue 2 2015

Page et al., 2010 JEB

Issue 2 2015

Members

ISBE Newsletter

requirements and has helped

define a new perspective:
Infrastructure

Ecology.

This work has shown that

despite decades of work on
Industrial Ecology, human
systems are not organized
like their natural analogs,
Both food webs and industrial webs represent exchanges in material and energy and which
may described using ENA

diminished

their

capacity to cycle material

trackers. For a biologist this allowed a powerful test

and energy. The problem

about what animals might be doing that cannot be

is organizational rather than technological. This

obtained by working only with the organism. For

work has led to a series of design rules that

others this has led to the development of biologically-

provide guidance for those wishing to build

based rules for autonomous navigation in turbulent

sustainable

chemical plumes.with ISBE to promote bio-inspired

systems and infrastructure. Dr. Weissburg and

design as a practical, rigorous and innovative field of

colleagues are working with a variety of entities

inquiry.

and companies (including US cities, BMW, Anshan

and

resilient

human

industrial

Dr. Weissburgs interest in ecology led him to

Steel) that apply these techniques to reduce waste

wonder whether ecological systems might provide

and create more cyclic systems.Dr. Weissburgs

useful principles for solving human challenges. A

latest activity is the development of bio-inspired

fortuitous meeting with engineers interested in

design methodology. The practice of bio-inspired

sustainable systems provided an opportunity to work

design as a formal activity is new, and there is a

on this problem. Over the past 5 years Dr. Weissburg

need to define essential knowledge and develop

and his engineering colleagues have examined how

a rigorous practice that can be taught to others.

ecological network analysis (ENA) can be used to

He has held several educational grants to develop

design more sustainable infrastructure and industrial

interdisciplinary bio-inspired design curricula,

systems. ENA is a set of tools ecologists use to

works with high school and professional groups,

examine material and energy flow in food webs, but

and has numerous papers on effective teaching.

which can easily be applied to human systems that

He is proud to work with the ISBE to promote

transfer material and energy among components. This

bio-inspired design as a practical, rigorous and

necessitates an important change of view of human

innovative field of inquiry.

systems as ecosystems with the same functional

Zhendong Dai
Board of Directors of the ISBE

r. Zhendong Dai is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and the

director and founder of the Institute of Bio-inspired Structure and Surface
Engineering (IBSS) at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics

(NUAA). As a tribologist, he has set a theory of tribo-irreversible thermo dynamics

and use the idea to understand coupling interaction among various factors, which
possess different physical dimensions and to model the system by ENTROPY. In
2000, he jointed Grobs biological group in Institute of Development Biology, MaxPlank-Institute, Tuebingen, Germany, where he learned the language of biology,
and got feeling that what engineers can do for biology. He started to design the
3D sensors at that time and ask his friends to develop them even he was still in
Germany. He came back China, set up the institute and started the hard pioneering
days by crowded in a very small room with few followers. He also served as the Chair
of the 4th International Conference of Bionic Engineering (ICBE13).
By alluring Prof. Sun from Beijing University and collaborated cordially, Dai and
his group were trained biological knowledge and learn to speak with biologist. He
always feels not ashamed to learn from biologist and is willing to devote his energy
in supporting the researches from biology. He and Sun drawn a schedule for IBSS,
and closely worked together in finding a way to simulate animals locomotion, esp.
gecko and pigeon, and by this way to understand how brain work during locomotion
and how biological robot can be set up.
He was acutely aware the importance of reaction force in clearly understanding
the locomotion, developed 3D force sensors and set up a facility to measure the 3D

WRITE TO US

Send an email to ISBE Secretariat

ISBE Secretariat is always calling for news and ideas among our members, if there is any information
you would like to include in the future edition of newsletter, please feel free to contact us.
Email: secretariat@isbe-online.org; office@isbe-online.org
Tel/ Fax: +86-431-85166507
Address: 1202 Administrative Building, Jilin University, 2699 Qianjin Street, Changchun P. R. China

Issue 2 2015

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ISBE Newsletter

News and Events

reaction force and to observe the motion behaviors simultaneously. He and his
group find different of reaction force pattern when gecko moving on floor, wall,
ceiling and even various inclined surfaces, which greatly inspired the design
of gecko-mimicking robots. The technology also be used for understanding
the role of forelimb of frog during jumping, the behavior of a locust when the
slope changes. At the same time, the adhesive mechanism and the detaching
technique used by the gecko were subtly investigated; the adhesive structures

News and Events

mimicking setae were developed by self-growing carbon nanotube array

technology, gecko-mimicking adhesive elements and the robot were developed

2015 International Workshop on

for the applications in space and vacuum.

Bionic Engineering

Inspired by feather and bone, he and his group developed multi-function

light-weight foamed metal materials. To meet the requirement of applications,
such as light-weight load-carrying materials, heat-transferring, high-

members including Marc Weissburg from Georgia

performance lead cell, electromagnetic shielding, many scientific questions

Institute of Technology (USA), Friedrich G. Barth

and key techniques were studied.

from University of Vienna (Austria), Zhendong

This work by him and his group are well received by scientific and industrial

Dai from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and

societies. Thus he has been appointed as a board member of various journals

Astronautics

and a standing member of various academic societies. He has received grants

University (China) among others gave papers.

for a number of important projects, including two NSFC key projects and

Twenty-five invited reports were presented in two

key international projects. He has authored 6 books and more than 300 peer

days, the topics covered bionic surface, bionic

reviewed papers.

intelligence system, bionic synthesis, biomaterials,

His research interests include biomimetic gecko robot, locomotion

dynamics and artificial adhesives; lightweight structures and materials -bioinspired lightweight structures, multifunctional foamed metals, tribology.

(China), Zhiwu HAN from Jilin

fluid bionics, motion bionics and so on.

This
workshop
provided
a
favorable
he 2015 International Workshop on Bionic opportunity for the exchange of bionic engineering
Engineering (IWBE 2015) was held in Beijing research achievements, and offered a platform for

on October 14-16, 2015. It was organized by representatives to communicate and cooperate

the International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE), with each other. It played a positive role to promote
and sponsored by Beihang and Jilin Universities. The the development of bionics at an international and
workshop also got support from the National Natural interdisciplinary level.
Science Foundation of China. This workshop aims
to provide an international forum for scientists and
engineers around the world, working in the field of
bionic engineering, to present and share their ideas and
latest work. The theme of IWBE 2015 was "The Progress
and new Challenges of Bionic Functional Structures
and Surfaces".
More than 100 representatives from UK, US, Spain,
Austria, New Zealand, Korea, Japan among others were
invited to workshop. ISBE President Professor Julian
Vincent from the University of Oxford (UK), General
Sino-USA Frontier of engineering, organized by academy of USA and China

Issue 2 2015

Secretary Jianqiao Li from Jilin University, other

Issue 2 2015

News and Events

ISBE Newsletter

Biomimetic Workshop 2015

iomimetics Workshop 2015 - Optimisation and trade-off in Biomimetics - was successfully held
in Jilin University, China, on October 10-11, 2015. The workshop was organized by the
International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE) and sponsored by Jilin

University.
The workshop was presented by Prof. Julian F.V. Vincent Oxford University who
is a distinguished professor in Bionics and the President of ISBE. Nearly 40 scholars
and postgraduates attended the workshop, respectively from Chonnam National
University (South Korea),
Tsinghua University (China) etc.
During the two day workshop, the
innovative teaching methods included
specialist tutelage, classroom interaction, practical
experience, and group presentations.
This workshop not only provided good opportunities
for attendees to learn some basic methods and skills of
biomimetics but also established a platform for academic
exchange and communication. It was a memorable
event, popularizing bionic science and technology, spreading its ideas, methods and spirit, and accelerating
the pace of academic research and development.

Sino-German Symposium on Biomimetics,

Munich, Germany 2015: From Animal Sensory
Systems to Locomotion
ino-German Symposium on Biomimetics (From Animal Sensory
Systems to Locomotion) was held from June 29th to July 2nd,
2015 in Munich, Germany. The symposium was funded by the Sino

German Science Center, and co-organized by the International Society of

Bionic Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Technical University of
Munich, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Chengdu
Institute of Biology.

he 2015 International Bionic Engineering,

Refrigeration and Heat Transfer Workshop &
the 5th BioApproNFS-Wett Meeting was held on

13-14 August 2015 in Dalian China.

The workshop and the meeting were organised by the
European Research Network of BioApproNFS-Wett (ref.
295224) and hosted by the Dalian Maritime University
(China). It marked a significant collaboration between
the members of the university network and members
of the International of Society of Bionic Engineering
(ISBE).
Nearly 30 representatives from the UK, Germany, Portugal, Thailand, and China attended the workshop
and meeting. Professor Yuying Yan from the University of Nottingham (UK), the coordinator of the EU
network and Deputy General Secretary of the ISBE, chaired the meeting and the workshop. ISBE Vice
President Dr. Thomas Stegmaier from ITV Denkendorf (Germany), ISBE General Secretary Jianqiao Li
from Jilin University, and some other members including Dr. Ana Moita from the Instituto Superior Tecnico
(Portugal), Prof. Xun Chen from Liverpool John Moores University (UK) and Prof. Zhiwu Han from Jilin
University (China) attended the meeting and gave reports at both the meeting and the workshop.
The workshop topics focused on recent research and the development of bionic functional surfaces and
fluid coupling, as well as energy efficiency. The workshop, which was a memorable event popularizing bionic
engineering, refrigeration, heat transfer, also played an important role in promoting communication and
collaboration between academic researchers from the members of the EU network and the ISBE.

Welcome to visit the Bionic Digital Library

he Bionic Digital Library of the ISBE was launched

on Nov. 10th, 2015. It is linked to the official website
of the Society and can be accessed via http://isbe-

online.org/information.
The Library offers information about Institutes, Journals,

The Symposium focused on the exchange of recent bionic academic research results and developments

Papers, Patents, Books, Organizations, Corporations, and

in the understanding of animal perception, locomotion, neuronal control, and the underlying biological

Networks. The ISBE Proceedings are also provided at the

substrates (including materials).

Library. Currently, there are 25,529 papers, 6454 patents, 377

Nearly 50 outstanding researchers were invited to this symposium. Zhendong Dai, Zhiwu Han, Friedrich
G. Barth, Board of Directors of the ISBE; Wenjian Wu, Fellow of the ISBE; Runmao Wang, Director of the
Office of Secretariat, ISBE and some other members of the society were invited to attend the meeting and
present their reports.
The success of the symposium has positively influenced the potential cooperative research in relevant

institutes from 39 countries and regions listed. The number of

books, journals, and other information is nearly 100.
The ISBE welcomes submission of data to the Library.
Please send information to the secretariat at office@isbeonline.org.

fields, and will promote cooperation between China and Germany in the field of biomimetics.

Issue 2 2015

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ISBE Newsletter

Academics

The 5th International Conference on Manipulation, Manufacturing

and Measurement on the Nanoscale (3M-NANO)

nvited by Prof. Yanling Tian from Tianjin

University, Prof. Hongwei Zhao and Doctor
Jianping Li who are members of the ISBE attended

the 5th International Conference on Manipulation,

Manufacturing and Measurement on the Nanoscale

Academics

(3M-NANO). 3M-NANO is an annual International

Some ideas to chew over

Conference on Manipulation, Manufacturing and

Measurement on the Nanoscale; this year it was held on
5-9 October 2015 in Changchun, China. Prof. Hongwei
Zhao was invited as the chair of one special session and
Dr Jianping Li gave an excellent presentation on bionic inchworm-type piezoelectric actuators.
Inspired by the real inchworm in the nature, Jianping Li presented one inchworm-type piezoelectric
actuators which can get millimeter-scale rotary stroke. This actuator could overcome the significant
disadvantage of piezoelectric actuators on limited working stoke which is always on the micrometer scale.
In addition, Jianping Li developed a rotor with a bionic non-smooth surface which improves three-fold the
performance of inchworm-type piezoelectric actuators. This work on bionic piezoelectric actuators was well
praised and discussed by researchers all over the world.

Julian Vincent, University of Oxford, UK

hen it comes to understanding the mechanical properties of foods and especially the fracture
properties food scientists find a basic problem. The understanding of materials has in large
part been driven by engineers wishing to develop and understand structural materials, which

are designed to be durable and (mostly) capable of supporting significant loads. This is not true of food
materials, whose destination is the mouth. The loads, stresses
and displacements here are very different from the engineering
environment, so the mechanical and fracture properties will
be different, too. Also there are quality attributes to food
that are not relevant to engineering, which have to do with
the assessment of the chemical safety of the food (e.g. is it
rotted and therefore potentially poisonous?). Food materials

The 1st Graduate Student

Innovation Competition

he

first

Graduate

Student

Innovation

Competition, organized by the Key Laboratory of

Bionic Engineering, Ministry of Education, Jilin

University, was held in October, 2015. This competition

brings together students in different research fields
of bionics and bionic engineering and gives them the
opportunity to showcase their innovative ideas. The
competition awarded 3 first prizes, 5 second prizes, 10
third prizes, and 31 prizes for excellence.
The Innovation Competition program provides an
opportunity for graduate students to seek particularly
innovative technological ideas. Its aim is to stimulate
interest in scientific innovation and to encourage
students to develop new techniques, new designs, new
research methods, and new applications, in the areas of
bionics and bionic engineering sciences.

10 Issue 2 2015

are also very much more complex than most engineering

materials. They are composite, being made from complex
polymers (proteins and polysaccharides) that appear as both Figure 1 A piece of food being bitten with Mode

I fracture (crack opening), which is the way that

matrix and fibre. They are also hierarchical; for instance your front teeth (incisors) work.
the fibres are themselves are commonly made of fibrils in a
matrix. These considerations often leave the food scientist
at a disadvantage, since there is very little data with which to
compare the properties and structures of food materials. An
example from fracture mechanics: potato crisps (=chips) have
a stress intensity factor of about 4 MPa.m0.5 which is about
the same as an engineering ceramic, and a work of fracture of
about 45 J.m2, which is far higher than a technical ceramic [1].

Figure 2 Force exerted on the handles of a

This apparent imbalance of properties becomes quite logical pair of scissors cutting through two soft foods
when we realise that potato crisps are cellular and therefore (caterpillar and beef, using sharp scissors) and a
hard but brittle food (beetle, which did best with

of low stiffness for a glassy material, using the nominal cross- blunt scissors). From [2].
section area for calculating stress. There are currently no

cellular glassy technical ceramics since there is no demand for an engineering material with the mechanical
and fracture properties of a potato crisp! The message therefore is that the exploration of the mechanical
properties of foods may be as much an adventure for the materials scientist as for the food scientist.
Chewing food involves fracture and plastic flow, breaking the food material and incorporating water and
Issue 2 2015

11

ISBE Newsletter

Academics

salivary enzymes into it. This involves work, which is limited by the capacity of the jaw muscles. In most

architectures interconnecting the upper platform and lower platform in an equilateral triangle arrangement.

instances these muscles are adequate, being some of the most powerful muscles in the body. However, the

The structure of the torso consists of 4 disc bodies that replicate the function of the vertebrae in the human

jaw can exert only a small amount of displacement so that a compliant food, if it cannot be strained to failure,

spine and an actuating system of cables in a parallel architecture. The vertebrae are interconnected with each

will register as unbreakable or tough even though there is sufficient force available.

other by means of flexible couplings that behaves as spherical spring joints allowing the relative rotation in

Man probably evolved as an eater of nuts and fruit. Australopithecus boisei, an early hominid, was given

passive motion. The trunk is fixed on the spine through a vertebral disc. The spine is also connected to the

the nickname Nutcracker Man on account of his bulky dentition, though he was by no means unique in

abdomen using another vertebral disk. The pelvis is connected to the abdomen and houses 5 actuators 4 of

this respect. But his jaw geometry was pretty much the same as ours, so one can reasonably suppose that

which allows the 3 d.o.f.s of the humanoid spine. The four cables are fixed to the platform through the trunk,

foods which modern man will eat raw could have constituted a primitive diet. Such a primitive diet would

they pass through the holes of the other vertebral discs reaching the actuators on which are fixed. The cables

include nuts, fruits, tubers, leaves and shoots, all of which are crisp or brittle. The flesh of fish comes under

are pulled by the actuators and act antagonistically as a cable parallel manipulator to produce motion of the

this heading, since their muscle fibres are short and they have little connective tissue (based on fibrous

humanoid spine that can bend right, left, forward and backward where as a circular motion can be performed

collagen) holding them together. However, many materials that we feed on fall outside this range, since they

thanks to the combination of the two above-mentioned movements. At the moment the arms are designed

have evolved to be durable parts of an animal or plant. To be chewable, food has to come within a range of

with a traditional serial architecture likewise the neck mechanism.

properties with which the mouth can cope, and this is achieved by cooking, which denatures and stiffens the
proteins, forcing water out of the structure. Some of the protein (collagen, for example) is melted and carried
away by the water to become gravy. Dimensions of the food must be somewhere between 1 mm and 2-5 cm.
Cooked meat is generally tougher and stronger than raw meat but breaks at lower displacements. Teeth
direct the forces; more especially the incisors function in Mode I (crack opening Figure 1) and can cope
with non-fibrous brittle foods, and the carnassial teeth at the side of the mouth of the carnivore (dogs, cats)
function in Mode III to cope with fibrous foods that have low notch sensitivity. Recent comment on the teeth
of a fossil bat suggested that its pointed teeth indicated that it fed on hard-bodied animals such as beetles.
Not so. Pointed teeth indicate a diet of softer bodies that need to be punctured [2]. To eat a beetle all you need
to do is exert enough force for a crack to start somewhere in its shell, and then allow the crack to propagate
where it will (Figure 2). The strain energy stored in the jaw muscles will power the crack along.
1. Rojo, F.J., and Vincent, J.F.V. (2008). Fracture properties of potato crisps. International Journal of
Food Science & Technology 43, 752-760.
a

2. Strait, S.G., and Vincent, J.F.V. (1998). Primate faunivores: physical properties of prey items.
International Journal of Primatology 19, 867-878.

Fig.1 LARMbot Humanoid design at LARM in Cassino, Italy: a) the human modeling; b) a mechanical design;
c) a first prototype

Recent main references on design developments

Design of LARMbot, a New Humanoid

with Parallel Mechanisms
Marco Ceccarelli, LARM, University of Cassino and South Latium, Italy

M. Ceccarelli, D. Cafolla, Artificial torso for humanoid robot, patent request no. 102015000032902, 2015,
Italy
M. Ceccarelli, M. Wang, Biped locomotor with parallel leg mechanisms, patent request no. 102015000056450,
2015, Italy
M. F. Wang, M. Ceccarelli, and G. Carbone, Experimental tests on operation performance of a LARM leg

uman anatomy can be modeled with skeleton structures that are actuated by muscles acting in parallel

mechanism with 3-DOF parallel architecture, Mechanical Science Open Access, 6, 18, 2015; doi:10.5194/

as parallel manipulators. With such a biomimetic inspiration a humanoid robot can be designed

ms-6-1-2015

with a kinematic structure made of several parallel manipulator mechanisms with different design

M. F. Wang, M. Ceccarelli, Topology Search of 3-DOF Translational Parallel Manipulators with Three

solutions as depending of the body parts they will mimic in functionality and volume. At LARM in Cassino,

Identical Limbs for Leg Mechanisms, Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering, July 2015, Vol. 28, pp

Italy, a new humanoid robot, named as LARMbot, is under development with a first prototype built as based

666-675. DOI: 10.3901/CJME.2015.0408.060.

on the above conceptual biomimetic inspiration and with low-cost reduced-complexity features. The leg

D. Cafolla and M. Ceccarelli, Design and Validation of a PKM Structure for a Humanoid Torso, 14th World

system is made of two parallel leg mechanisms that are composed of a waist platform, a turning mechanism

Congress in Mechanism and Machine Science, Taipei, Taiwan, 25-30 October, 2015, paper OS13-122. DOI

located on the waist platform, two foot platforms, and two set of three linear actuators assembled with parallel

Number: 10.6567/IFToMM.14TH.WC.OS13.122

12 Issue 2 2015

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13

ISBE Newsletter

Academics

Hovering Insect-Inspired FlappingWing

Micro Air Vehicles

thrust enhancement. The flapping wings also clap and fling at the end of the upstroke, making the prototype
a double-single wing clap-and-fling flying machine. The Odopter can take off vertically, hover, and fly stably

Quoc Viet Nguyen, Woei Leong Chan, Marco Debiasi

at low speed. Flight control is achieved with conventional rudder and elevator. Powered by an onboard single

National University of Singapore

cell LiPo battery (3.7V-70 mAh), the Odopter can fly under control for three minutes. NUS- TL-Flower Fly

ertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL), agile maneuvering, and hovering flight are extremely desirable
characteristics of insect flight in the development of Flapping-Wing Micro Air Vehicles (FW-MAVs),
which enable an insect-inspired FW-MAV to take off and fly in confined spaces for indoor surveillance.

Moreover, FW-MAVs are more efficient at low Reynolds numbers, less noisy, and less dangerous than their
counterparts with fixed or rotating wings. These key features have led insect-inspired FW-MAVs to be
attractive flying models for modern micro air vehicles. The Temasek Laboratories of the National University
of Singapore has been developing FW-MAVs since September 2012. Toward the autonomous flight in near
future, insect-inspired FW-MAVs capable of vertical take off and stable hovering are the most concern, built,
and tested. Several flapping wing models mimicking insect flight have been fabricated; and recently, Nguyen
et al. have successfully achieved two stable hovering flapping wing prototypes with double wing clap-andfling effects, namely, NUS-TL-Odopter (flapping-wing flight of dragonfly) and NUS-TL-FlowerFly (flappingwing flight of the hoverfly). Currently, they are working on system identification, autopilot systems and CFD
simulation of the two flying insect-inspired FW-MAVs.

NUS-TL-FlowerFly
The NUS- TL-FlowerFly and Odopter share many features of fabrication technique and assembly. The
main difference between these two prototypes is that all four wings of the Flower Fly are flapping wings; two
pairs of wings arranged around the fuselage flap in opposite phase. The unique design of gearbox using a
crank-slider mechanism enables one motor to drive all the four wings which sweep a cylindrical volume, and
clap and fling at the end of both upstroke and downstroke, making the FlowerFly a double double-wing clapand-fling flying machine. With thrust enhancement using clap-and-fling, the FlowerFly can carry a payload
up to 5 grams at a relatively low flapping frequency range from 10 Hz to 13.7 Hz. The control of roll, pitch,
and yaw is achieved using three control surfaces actuated by three servos at the bottom of the prototype. The
special design enables the FlowerFly weighing 16.6 grams with a wing span of 22 cm to be inherently stable
in hovering flight, and able to perform vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), forward and backward flight
(pitch), left and right flight (yaw), rotation around its long axis (roll), and retake-off with ease. Powered by an
onboard single cell LiPo battery (3.7V for 70 mAh), the FlowerFly can hover for five minutes with an onboard
camera (2.5g) for first-person-view (FPV) control.

NUS-TL-Odopter with double-single wing clap-and-fling effects mimicking insect flight.

NUS-TL-Odopter
The NUS-TL-Odopter weighing 14.6g with wing span of 22 cm is a flapping wing prototype with a pair
each of flapping and fixed wings attached to a fuselage. The flapping mechanism is based on a planar crankrocker mechanism with flapping angle of about 1300 and flapping frequency range from 10 to 1204 Hz. The
main function of the fixed wings is to capitalize on the wing clap-and-fling effect at the end of downstroke for

14 Issue 2 2015

NUS-TL-FlowerFly with double-double wing clap-and-fling effects mimicking insect flight.

Issue 2 2015

15

ISBE Newsletter

New Adjustable Biomimetic Hemi-pelvis

Prosthesis for Pelvic Reconstruction
Zikai Hua, Dongxu Liu, China

Bionics has a distinct unique approach

elvis plays a key role in load transfer across

hip joints. However, accidents and pelvic bone

Seyed Masoud Moosavi Basri, Iran

tumors can cause the pelvis damage. Pelvic

reconstruction using hemi-pelvic prostheses is an

n Bionic projects, it is observed that the designers have sacrificed important

effective way to recover the biomechanical functions

parameters such as the durability of structures, the health of the environment,

of pelvis.

energy consumption, cost-effectiveness, etc to achieve a particular model in line

Dr. Zikai Hua and his group in Orthotek laboratory

Shanghai University, cooperating with Shanghai
Thytec medical implants company, has been focusing
on the development of biomimetic hemi-pelvic
prostheses since 2010.

Figure 2 Finite element models reconstructed pelvis

models using the new biomimetic prosthesis

Meanwhile, to provide comparison to the finite

element analysis, supported by DOM 3D LTD

Recently, this work moves to a new biomimetic

(GOM, Germany) and Shanghai First Peoples

hemi-pelvic prosthesis, which contains an ilium, an

Hospital, in vitro experiments were conducted by

acetabulum and an adjustable pubis (Fig. 1). Different

Orthotek lab as well (Fig. 3). Dr. Hua said that from

from the previous design [Z.K. Hua, et al., Journal of

the preliminary tests, experimental results agreed

Bionic Engineering, Vol. 10, Issue 4, 506-513, 2013;

well with the finite elements analysis, indicating

ISBE Newsletter, Vol. 2, Issue 2, 12-13, 2013], the new

that the new biomimetic hemi-prosthesis could

prosthesis has an adjustable pubis. In natural pelvis,

restore the function of the pelvis reliably. And

the pubic symphysis provides relative small motion

experiments under dynamic loading would be

between the left and right pubis, this structure may

carried out in the future work. Till now, the results

have advantage in load transferring of the pelvis.

obtained may provide the further optimization of

Referring to such structure, in the new design, a

this prosthesis as well as the clinical guidelines to

flexible pubis aims to help the surgeons to reestablish

patients and surgeons.

the pelvic ring in a flexible and easy way.

with the shape of a live system in nature. This is contrary to the objectives of which
Bionics has been founded. Live systems result from evolution in the configuration
through time, which has used the information from the environment to manage energy at best to supply desired performance.
It is not convincible to imitate a particular natural form to achieve the benefits
of that form in a man-made system same as the live system itself. A live system is a multilateral engagement
of different organs in a network that possess a particular performance . In my point of view, evolution is a
natural process in which substance consistently flows in a way to flow easily minimizing the waste of different
types of energy. To be able to imply this theory better, Ive defined three fields for an evolutionary system:
material, structure, and mechanism. A live system with a particular innate performance manages the flow
of substance in three mentioned fields. The difference between live species is in the difference between their
performance and their environments. Physics laws never change and do not have any exceptions. Thus there
is no difference of inspirations in live systems.
I subscribe to the Idea that substance and consequently life is made of a potential difference between
positive and negative charges after the Big Bang. Potential difference leads to make flow then the substance
tends to flow and regarding the information which it receives from the surrounding environment during the
time, structures engender, change, or distorted/extinct.
My recent findings were achieved by conducting assiduous studies on evolution process and physics law
in quantum scale to a complex live system with a new perspective. Generalizing these findings in engineering
fields is the main objective of my current studies. This approach will lead to obtaining promising outcomes
with remarkable achievements in Systems Biology as a recently developed knowledge that having a nature
inspired perspective could be truly navigator in this field. It may lead to crack the black box of live systems

Figure 1 Biomimetic hemi-pelvis prosthesis with adjustable

pubis

and provide a blueprint of life.

In order to investigate the biomechanical

Although my systematic education was in Civil Engineering, I am not afraid of crossing the line. I usu-

performance of this kind of prosthesis, Dr. Hua and

ally enjoy challenging impossibilities with my imaginations and thinking about knowledge gaps in science.

Mr. DongXu Liu, one of the key research members

My fundamental research started about four years ego conducting multidisciplinary studies in three labs in

in Orthek lab, used finite element method to evaluate

the behavior in vivo. They built subject-specific finite
models, which included the related soft tissues, i.e.
ligaments and cartilages in joints (Fig. 2).

16 Issue 2 2015

Figure 3 in vitro biomechanical experiments on

the reconstructed pelvis using the new biomimetic
prosthesis

Tehran including The Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, and
Iran University of Medical Science(IUMS). My research at IUMS is in collaboration with Harvard Medical
School. I have succeeded to have some of my findings and research published, under review, and some drafts
to publish as articles and ebook in the near future.
Issue 2 2015

17

Upcoming Activities

ISBE Newsletter

Upcoming Activities
The 5th International Conference of
Bionic Engineering (ICBE'16)
21 - 24 June, 2016, The University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China

he 5th International Conference of Bionic Engineering organised by the International Society of

Bionic Engineering (ISBE) will be held in Ningbo at the University of Nottingham Ningbo (UNNC)
campus, 21 24, June 2016. This conference aims to provide an international forum for scientists

and engineers around the world who are working in the field of bionic engineering, and also for dissemination
of information and knowledge exchange in biomimetics and bionic engineering. A broad range of topics and

Publications:
Based on conference committees recommendations, authors will also have the option to submit their peerreviewed conference papers to the following refereed journals:
Journal of Bionic Engineering, Chinese Science Bulletin etc.

Registration Fees:
Conference Participants

application areas will be devised to reflect the interdisciplinary nature of this conference.

Authors are invited to submit abstracts covering, but not limited to, the
following areas:

Full Delegate

Biomechanics
Student Delegate

Bionic structures

Registration Fees
460
400 (Early bird)
260
200 (Early bird)

Biomimetic materials
Biomimetic Surfaces

Fees including
All proceedings on a USB flash disk
A book of abstracts
Tickets to all events held
Attendance to all topic sessions
Welcome reception
Welcome package
Conference dinner
Lunch and refreshment

There will be an early bird discount if our participants book their places before 20 April, 2016.

Fluids flow and drag reductions

Note: Refund is not available once booking is made. We suggest participants register after the paper is

Nature inspired designs

accepted.

Industrial applications in biomimetics

Exhibitors:

Sensors and signal processing

If you would like to book a stand to exhibit your products, please contact us for information.

Nature inspired energy systems

Robotics, motion systems and artificial intelligence

Sponsors:

Nature inspired sport science

International Society of Bionic Engnieering (ISBE)

University of Nottingham, UK
University of Nottingham Ningbo, China
Jilin University, China

Important Dates:
Abstract submission:

10th Jan 2016

Notification of accepted abstracts:

25th Jan 2016

Full paper submission:

28th Feb 2016

Royal Society, UK
National Natural Science Foundation of China

Notification of accepted full papers:

20th Apr 2016

Please check on http://icbe2016-unnc.org regularly for any update about the conference, or contact the

Early bird Registration deadline:

20th Apr 2016

conference office for any inquiries at info@icbe2016-unnc.org

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ISBE Newsletter

Upcoming Activities

CIMTEC 2016 CALL FOR PAPERS

Share your latest achievements in research, technology and new applications with leading-edge experts at

Symposium O

Mining Smartness from Nature:

From Bioinspired Materials to Bionic Systems
of the
5th International Conference

Smart and Multifunctional Materials, Structures and Systems

CIMTEC 2016
June 5-9, 2016, Perugia, Italy

ovel and efficient materials, structures, tools, mechanisms and processes have already
resulted from adapting mechanisms and capabilities from nature and more may be
envisaged for the near future because of the increased understanding of the biological

world, the capability to manage matter down to the atomic scale, the development of novel

Welcome to Living Machines 2016

he 5th International Conference on Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems will be hosted at the Dynamic
Earth, Edinburgh, Scotland. 18th to 22nd July 2016. The conference is Organized by the Convergent
Science Network in association with Heriot Watt University and University of Edinburgh.

RELEVANT DATES
March 11th, 2016

Paper submission deadline

April 29th, 2016

Notification of acceptance

May 16th, 2016

Camera ready copy

July 18-22nd 2016

Conference

Venue
Living Machines 2016 will be hosted at Dynamic Earth, a 5 star visitor attraction in the heart of Edinburghs

algorithms and theories, and the exponentially increasing power for computation and multi-scale

historic old town, next door the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace. Dynamic Earth is a visitor experience

simulation of processes, materials, structures and whole systems. Objective of this symposium,

that which invites you to take a journey through time to witness the story of planet Earth. Through a series of

that follows the ones on the same subject held at previous CIMTEC Conferences, is to merge

interactive exhibits, state of the art technology and even a 4D encounter you will feel the heat of a bubbling

biological information with materials science, engineering and medical sciences at the purpose
of exploring new ideas and accomplishments for the practice of bio-inspired design to gather
momentum and offer innovative solutions.
CIMTEC 2016 will gather together a large and qualified audience of materials scientists,
physicists, chemists, biologists, physicians and engineers, as well as experts of a wide range of
the most advanced and demanding research and application areas of smart materials and related

volcano, face the chill of polar ice, fly across the globe before crash landing in a tropical rainforest. Attendees
at the conference will receive a discount voucher to visit the Dynamic Earth exhibit.

Programme
The main conference will take the form of a three-day single-track oral and poster presentation programme,
20th to 22nd July 2016, hosted at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh, Scotland.
The conference programme will include five plenary lectures from leading international researchers in
biomimetic and biohybrid systems, and the demonstrations of state-of-the-art living machine technologies
The full conference will be preceded by up to two days of Sateliite Events hosted by the School of Informatics

technologies. The president of ISBE Julian Vincent and some other members of the society will

at the University of Edinburgh.

attend the conference and give reports. On the top of this premier event in materials, the Umbria

Supported by

region will offer its wonderful landscape and its immense, unique artistic heritage!
Learn more about CIMTEC Conferences
http://www.cimtec-congress.org/

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Copenhagen, Denmark
June 27 - 28, 2016

ICAIRBM 2016 : 18th International Conference on Advanced

Industrial Robotics and Bionic Mechanisms
Conference Aims and Objectives
The ICAIRBM 2016: 18th International Conference on Advanced Industrial Robotics and Bionic
Mechanisms aims to bring together leading academic scientists, researchers and research scholars to exchange
and share their experiences and research results about all aspects of Advanced Industrial Robotics and Bionic
Mechanisms. It also provides the premier interdisciplinary forum for researchers, practitioners and educators
to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, and concerns, practical challenges encountered
and the solutions adopted in the field of Advanced Industrial Robotics and Bionic Mechanisms.
Conference Proceedings
All submitted conference papers will be blind peer reviewed by three competent reviewers. The post
conference proceedings will be abstracted and indexed in the International Science Index , and submitted to
be indexed in the Google Scholar, Scopus and Thomson Reuters. The conference abstracts and proceedings
book, CD and certificate of presentation will be distributed to the conference participants at the conference
registration desk.
Special Journal Issues
ICAIRBM 2016 has teamed up with the Special Journal Issue on Advances in Advanced Industrial Robotics
and Bionic Mechanisms. A number of selected high-impact full text papers will also be considered for the
special journal issues. All submitted papers will have opportunities for consideration for this Special Journal
Issue. The paper selection will be carried out during the peer review process as well as at the conference
presentation stage. Submitted papers must not be under consideration by any other journal or publication.

ISBE NEWSLETTER
Contact - Office of Secretariat, ISBE
Address: 1202 Administrative Building, Jilin University, 2699
Qianjin Street, Changchun 130012, P. R. China

The final decision for paper selection will be made based on peer review reports by the Guest Editors and the

Tel/ Fax: +86-431-85166507

Editor-in-Chief jointly. Selected full text papers will be online published as free of charge.

E-mail: secretariat@isbe-online.org; office@isbe-online.org

More information, Please visit: https://www.waset.org/conference/2016/06/copenhagen/ICAIRBM.

Website: http://www.isbe-online.org/

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