General Systems Theory in a Horizontal and Vertical Action Process for Cross-Disciplinary Knowledge Transfer

Biomimetic product development builds a bridge between the scientific disciplines engineering and biology and represents a cross-disciplinary knowledge circulation, which can produce highly innovative advancements in technology. The methodological support for such projects was initiated by the VDI guideline 6220 by 2012 [1] and still requires further research. The method presented in this abstract tries to provide a significant contribution to the successful transfer of knowledge across disciplines, to convey innovative solutions from biology to technology. The central idea of the method called Heli-Act (an acronym of Helix and Action) described here is based on the system-theoretical analysis of the action and the action carrier, the action circle and the action line under the relevant aspects of the socio-technical integration of methods and tools that will support the action carrier in the biomimetic development process. As a cross-common “language” general systems theory is used, which also includes the mathematical modeling system for both action as well as for object systems, which allows a computer-assisted method implementation. For the association of specialized terminology of the disciplines involved in the cross-disciplinary communication a semantic network is used to derive a translation tool in the Ontology World Language (OWL). Practical application experiences from a current project are presented, which describes the tribological optimization of a technical joint by awareness from the analysis of insects joints.