An experience about observation of natural phenomena as source of innovative solutions in engineering design,

One of the authors’ research topic is the integration of several designmethods and approaches within an holistic framework. In this paper an attempt of integration of the so called biomimetic approach with methodic design methods (in particular the Design for X (Dfx) approach will be considered) and TRIZ will be presented. The key idea is the use of archive and catalog of natural "constructive solutions and principles" in two distinct phases of the design procedure. First, these archives could help the designer in the abstraction phase, that, according to Altshuller thesis (Altshuller, 2002), would help to overcome the designer "Psychological Inertia", showing him/her all the possible development directions. Second, these archives would be a valid source of ideas and solutions, as well as other archives (historical, state of the art, ...). This integration would also allow to develop the biological science, since a continuous flow of information would be established. This advantage highlights also one of the possible problems: the difficulty in "translating" the concepts and in re-organizing the biological knowledge from an engineering point of view. This integration will be carried out using also the DfX approach as a "glue", that would link this two approach that appear to be so distant. The DfX approach, in fact, implies the precise evaluation of how the product accomplishes the required functions in all the phase of its life-cycle: this approach will allow to evaluate each solution of the "natural archive" and to consider only the "best" in the TRIZ approach as briefly summarized above.