Effects of Abstraction on Selecting Relevant Biological Phenomena for Biomimetic Design

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Feng ◽  
Hyunmin Cheong ◽  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Design By Analogy ◽  
Novice Designers

The natural-language approach to identifying biological analogies exploits the existing format of much biological knowledge, beyond databases created for biomimetic design. However, designers may need to select analogies from search results, during which biases may exist towards: specific words in descriptions of biological phenomena, familiar organisms and scales, and strategies that match preconceived solutions. Therefore, we conducted two experiments to study the effect of abstraction on overcoming these biases and selecting biological phenomena based on analogical similarities. Abstraction in our experiments involved replacing biological nouns with hypernyms. The first experiment asked novice designers to choose between a phenomenon suggesting a highly useful strategy for solving a given problem, and another suggesting a less-useful strategy, but featuring bias elements. The second experiment asked novice designers to evaluate the relevance of two biological phenomena that suggest similarly useful strategies to solve a given problem. Neither experiment demonstrated the anticipated benefits of abstraction. Instead, our abstraction led to: 1) novice designers associating non-abstracted words to design problems and 2) increased difficulty in understanding descriptions of biological phenomena. We recommend investigating other ways in which abstraction can be implemented when designing similar tools or techniques that aim to support biomimetic design and other design-by-analogy work.

Effects of Abstraction on Selecting Relevant Biological Phenomena for Biomimetic Design

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Feng ◽  
Hyunmin Cheong ◽  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Novice Designers

The natural-language approach to identifying biological analogies exploits the existing format of much biological knowledge, beyond databases created for biomimetic design. However, designers may need to select analogies from search results, during which biases may exist toward: specific words in descriptions of biological phenomena, familiar organisms and scales, and strategies that match preconceived solutions. Therefore, we conducted two experiments to study the effect of abstraction on overcoming these biases and selecting biological phenomena based on analogical similarities. Abstraction in our experiments involved replacing biological nouns with hypernyms. The first experiment asked novice designers to choose between a phenomenon suggesting a highly useful strategy for solving a given problem, and another suggesting a less-useful strategy, but featuring bias elements. The second experiment asked novice designers to evaluate the relevance of two biological phenomena that suggest similarly useful strategies to solve a given problem. Neither experiment demonstrated the anticipated benefits of abstraction. Instead, our abstraction led to: (1) participants associating nonabstracted words to design problems and (2) increased difficulty in understanding descriptions of biological phenomena. We recommend investigating other ways to implement abstraction when developing similar tools or techniques that aim to support biomimetic design.

A natural-language approach to biomimetic design

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-519 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Biological Database ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Biological Phenomena

AbstractThis paper summarizes various aspects of identifying and applying biological analogies in engineering design using a natural-language approach. To avoid the immense as well as potentially biased task of creating a biological database specifically for engineering design, the chosen approach searches biological knowledge in natural-language format, such as books and papers, for instances of keywords describing the engineering problem. Strategies developed to facilitate this search are identified, and how text descriptions of biological phenomena are used in problem solving is summarized. Several application case studies are reported to illustrate the approach. The value of the natural-language approach is demonstrated by its ability to identify relevant biological analogies that are not limited to those entered into a database specifically for engineering design.

Supporting Biomimetic Design by Embedding Metadata in Natural-Language Corpora

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ke ◽  
I. Chiu ◽  
J. S. Wallace ◽  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Word Sense ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Abstract Nouns ◽  
Keyword Searches

Biology is a good source of analogies for engineering design. One approach of retrieving biological analogies is to perform keyword searches on natural-language sources such as books, journals, etc. A challenge in retrieving information from natural-language sources is the potential requirement to process a large number of search results. This paper describes how inserting metadata such as part-of-speech, word sense and lexicographical data for each word in a natural-language source can help users identify relevant biological stimuli for biomimetic design. Although this research is still exploratory, initial qualitative observations demonstrate successful identification and separation of biological phenomena relevant to either desired functions or desired qualities. In addition, by incorporating the aforementioned metadata, we can automatically remove search results where search keywords act on abstract nouns or where keywords are used in irrelevant senses. The benefits of embedding metadata are demonstrated through a case study on the redesign of a fuel cell bipolar plate. In this case study, our method can be used to hide 64% of the search results that are unlikely to contain useful biological phenomena, reducing the effort to systematically identify relevant biological analogies.

Biomimetic design through natural language analysis to facilitate cross-domain information retrieval

2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
IVEY CHIU ◽  
L.H. SHU
Keyword(s):  
Information Retrieval ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Biologically Inspired ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Language Analysis ◽  
Domain Information ◽  
Natural Language Analysis

Biomimetic, or biologically inspired, design uses analogous biological phenomena to develop solutions for engineering problems. Several instances of biomimetic design result from personal observations of biological phenomena. However, many engineers' knowledge of biology may be limited, thus reducing the potential of biologically inspired solutions. Our approach to biomimetic design takes advantage of the large amount of biological knowledge already available in books, journals, and so forth, by performing keyword searches on these existing natural-language sources. Because of the ambiguity and imprecision of natural language, challenges inherent to natural language processing were encountered. One challenge of retrieving relevant cross-domain information involves differences in domain vocabularies, or lexicons. A keyword meaningful to biologists may not occur to engineers. For an example problem that involved cleaning, that is, removing dirt, a biochemist suggested the keyword “defend.” Defend is not an obvious keyword to most engineers for this problem, nor are the words defend and “clean/remove” directly related within lexical references. However, previous work showed that biological phenomena retrieved by the keyword defend provided useful stimuli and produced successful concepts for the clean/remove problem. In this paper, we describe a method to systematically bridge the disparate biology and engineering domains using natural language analysis. For the clean/remove example, we were able to algorithmically generate several biologically meaningful keywords, including defend, that are not obviously related to the engineering problem. We developed a method to organize and rank the set of biologically meaningful keywords identified, and confirmed that we could achieve similar results for two other examples in encapsulation and microassembly. Although we specifically address cross-domain information retrieval from biology, the bridging process presented in this paper is not limited to biology, and can be used for any other domain given the availability of appropriate domain-specific knowledge sources and references.

Supporting Biomimetic Design Through Categorization of Natural-Language Keyword-Search Results

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Ke ◽  
J. S. Wallace ◽  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Bipolar Plate ◽  
Biological Information ◽  
Good Source ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Keyword Searches

Biology is a good source of analogies for engineering design. One approach of retrieving biological analogies is to perform keyword searches on natural-language sources such as books, journals, etc. A challenge of retrieving information from natural-language sources is the potential requirement to process a large number of search results. This paper describes a categorization method that organizes a large group of diverse biological information into meaningful categories. The benefits of the categorization functionality are demonstrated through a case study on the redesign of a fuel cell bipolar plate. In this case study, our categorization method reduced the effort to systematically identify biological phenomena by up to ∼80%.

Bridging Cross-Domain Terminology for Biomimetic Design

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Chiu ◽  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Optimal Choice ◽  
Design Solution ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Support Design ◽  
Domain Experts ◽  
Cross Domain ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Support Engineering

This work aims to improve creativity and innovation in design by facilitating the use of cross-domain analogies, particularly from biological phenomena, as stimulus for concept generation. Rather than create an enormous database of biological knowledge to specifically support engineering design, we have chosen to take advantage of the large amount of biological knowledge already in natural-language format, e.g., books, journals, etc. Relevant biological analogies for any given design problem are found by searching for instances of functional keywords that describe the intended effect of the design solution in a natural-language corpus. However, the optimal choice of keywords, or search terms, is complicated by the fact that engineers and biologists may use differing domain-specific lexicons to describe related concepts. Therefore, an engineer without sufficient background in biology may not be able to identify keywords with biological connotation that are not obviously related to the engineering keywords. This paper describes efforts to bridge the gap in lexicons by examining words that frequently collocate with searched words. The biological meaningfulness of these bridge words is characterized by how frequently they occur within definitions of biological terms in a biology dictionary. Search words identified this way may not be obvious to domain novices, and may parallel those suggested by domain experts, thus facilitating the use of cross-domain ideas to support design. Our approach of generating bridge words with biological meaningfulness is generic and can be used to bridge any disparate domains (e.g., engineering and economics). Thus designers are enabled to quickly access relevant concepts from different domains to produce more innovative solutions.

scholarly journals Design problem solving with biological analogies: A verbal protocol study

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunmin Cheong ◽  
Gregory M. Hallihan ◽  
L.H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Verbal Protocol ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Coding Scheme ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Protocol Study

AbstractBiomimetic design applies biological analogies to solve design problems and has been known to produce innovative solutions. However, when designers are asked to perform biomimetic design, they often have difficulty recognizing analogies between design problems and biological phenomena. Therefore, this research aims to investigate designer behaviors that either hinder or promote the use of analogies in biomimetic design. A verbal protocol study was conducted on 30 engineering students working in small teams while participating in biomimetic design sessions. A coding scheme was developed to analyze cognitive processes involved in biomimetic design. We observed that teams were less likely to apply overall biological analogies if they tended to recall existing solutions that could be easily associated with specific superficial or functional characteristics of biological phenomena. We also found that the tendency to evaluate ideas, which reflects critical thinking, correlates with the likelihood of identifying overall biological analogies. Insights from this paper may contribute toward developing generalized methods to facilitate biomimetic design.

Extraction and Transfer of Biological Analogies for Creative Concept Generation

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunmin Cheong ◽  
Ivey Chiu ◽  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relation ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Analogical Transfer ◽  
Structural Mapping ◽  
Biomimetic Design ◽  
Design Fixation ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
Novice Designers

Biomimetic design, which borrows ideas from nature to solve engineering problems, has been identified as a promising method of concept generation. However, there are still many challenges. Previous research has revealed that novice designers have difficulties in extracting the analogical strategy present in biological phenomena and mapping the strategy even if the strategy is provided. This research, therefore, attempts to develop tools that could assist novice designers to execute effective biomimetic design and ultimately generate creative concepts. In particular, we investigated the use of tools developed by the authors: 1) a causal relation template that helps retrieve relevant strategies from biological descriptions and 2) instructional mapping rules that aid structural mapping of the strategies to design concepts and abstraction of the enabling functions of the strategies. We found that the participants who used both tools generated concepts with significant correlation between the correctness of analogical transfer and creativity of the concepts. This effect was not observed for the participants who only used the first tool, mainly because of the participants’ inability to explore enabling solutions for the applied biological strategy and generate concepts that are wholly developed. To encourage generation of creative ideas in biomimetic design, the tools must be devised to facilitate abstraction of biological strategies, enable effective mapping of strategies from biology to engineering, and discourage design fixation.

scholarly journals USING BIOLOGICAL ANALOGIES FOR ENGINEERING PROBLEM SOLVING AND DESIGN

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. H. Shu
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Engineering Design ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Engineering Problem ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Biological Phenomena ◽  
Design For Remanufacture ◽  
Engineering Problem Solving

This paper summarizes various aspects of identifying and using biological analogies in engineering design. To avoid the immense as well as potentially biased task of creating a database specifically for this purpose, the chosen approach searches biological knowledge in natural language format, e.g., books, papers, etc., for instances of functional keywords describing the engineering problem. Strategies developed to facilitate this search as well how text descriptions of biological phenomena were used in problem solving are summarized. Case studies in design for remanufacture and microassembly are used to provide an overview of the method.

Natural-Language-based Generation of Search Results in a Meaning-based Multilingual Search Engine

2006 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 313-319
Author(s):  
Yogesh P Awate ◽  
Jagger Bodas ◽  
Sachin Deshpande ◽  
Pushpak Bhattacharyya
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Search Engine ◽  
Search Results
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