Collaborative Research: A Mathematical Design Framework for the Synthesis of Biologically-Inspired Systems

研究的目的是探索一种新的方法来设计受生物启发的具有三维运动的顺应性系统。这项研究的动力很大程度上来自于设计在自然界中通过连续变形展示复杂的三维运动的优雅简洁性。这项研究将产生一种系统的方法，通过结合来自灵活的生物系统的基本构件来创建顺应机构的概念设计。将使用六维超几何来捕捉基本的运动属性，以表征构建块库。这个数学框架将能够从自然中识别构建块库的成员，在运动要求和构建块特征之间进行定量比较，以及对设计综合任务进行系统分解。将探索各种生物机制和工程系统，以推断潜在的构成要素。此外，六维超几何将用于促进将较大的设计综合任务智能分解为可由构建块库的元素解决的更易处理的子任务。如果成功，这项研究的结果将使三维合规系统的实际实现成为可能。这有可能极大地扩大可利用遵约益处的应用范围。此外，这项研究对更广泛的工程界的潜在好处是基于一种直观的方法，这种方法建立了设计师的洞察力。这项研究的结果将以基于软件的设计工具的形式提供给更广泛的工程界，以帮助实现任务的可视化和自动化，基于网络的学习模块，以及一本类似于维基百科的百科全书，以帮助进行合规的机制设计。

The research objective is to explore a novel methodology for the design of biologically-inspired compliant systems exhibiting motion in three dimensions. The impetus for this research draws largely from the elegant simplicity with which designs in nature exhibit complex three-dimensional motion through continuous deformation. The research will result in a systematic method to create conceptual designs of compliant mechanisms by combining elemental building blocks which are derived from flexible biological systems. A six-dimensional hyper-geometry will be used to capture the essential motion properties for the characterization of a building block library. This mathematical framework will enable identification of the members of the building block library from nature, quantitative comparison between motion requirements and the building block characteristics, and systematic decomposition of the design synthesis task. Various biological mechanisms and engineered systems will be explored to deduce potential building blocks. Additionally, the six-dimensional hyper-geometry will be used to facilitate the intelligent decomposition of a larger design synthesis task into more tractable sub-tasks which may be addressed by elements of the building block library. If successful, the results of this research will enable the practical realization of compliant systems in three dimensions. This has potential to greatly broaden the scope of applications where the benefits of compliance may be exploited. Furthermore, the potential benefits of the research to the broader engineering community are grounded in an intuitive approach which builds designer insight. The results of this research will be accessible to the broader engineering community in the form of software-based design tools to aid in visualization and automation of tasks, web-based learning modules, and a "wiki"-like encyclopedia to aid in compliant mechanism design.