 | | |
| GBIO0022-1 | Biomimetism
|
|
| Duration : | 30h Th, 30h Pr |
|
| Number of credits : |
|
|
| Lecturer : | Liesbet Geris, Tristan Gilet |
|
Language(s) of instruction :
|
| English language |
|
Organisation and examination :
|
| All year long |
|
Course contents :
|
| "Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring in vain."
Leonardo Da Vinci
In three billion years of evolution, nature had time to invent an incredible variety of mechanisms serving the purposes of life. These mechanisms are especially robust, since the conditions in which they are used are often highly variable. Nature comes with its own technical choices and fabrication recipes that are sometimes strikingly different from our conventional engineering: soft materials, microstructures, differential growth of tissues, self-healing capabilities, etc. In this course, biologists and engineers will unite forces and together carefully observe, deeply understand and attempt to faithfully mimic the designs of Nature.
Course content: In the first part of the course, several existing examples of biomimetism will be introduced by the lecturers and discussed by the group. The second part will be dedicated to the course projects (presentation and discussion). |
|
Learning outcomes of the course :
|
| At the end of this course, students will have an overview of many successful examples of biomimetism. Moreover, they will be able to get inspiration from Nature's designs and transpose them to develop original engineering applications.
Thanks to the group dynamics, they will benefit from the background of other students. They will also improve their communication skills (especially in an interdisciplinary context) and creative potential. Finally, they will be able to carry on a project from the preliminary studies to the final design. |
|
Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
|
| Pre-requisites: Bachelor in Sciences or Engineering |
|
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
|
| The course is organized according to the 15+45 scheme (15h theory + 45h practice).
Theory and applications are covered in 6 lectures (2h each). In addition, there will be some invited lectures by specialists in the fields of the selected course projects (the number of these lectures depends on the number of projects).
10 afternoons will be specifically dedicated to a course project, in which the students will develop a biomimetic application. These afternoon will be supervised by the three professors. A list of topics will be proposed at the beginning of the course. Projects will be made by groups of 2 to 4 students (depending on the difficulty of the project). There will always be at least one engineer and one biologist in each group. |
|
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
|
| Face-to-face |
|
Recommended or required readings :
|
| The course is not based on a unique textbook. It is more a synthesis of many textbooks and recent publications.
At the end of each class, several reading suggestions will be given. |
|
Assessment methods and criteria :
|
| Only the project is subject to evaluation. This latter is based on:
* An intermediate presentation, in February 2013, for 20% of the final grade,
* A final presentation, in April 2013, for 40% of the final grade,
* A written report, in April 2013, for 40% of the final grade.
The exact dates of these three deadlines will be defined later. |
|
Work placement(s) :
|
| |
|
Organizational remarks :
|
| The schedule and location of the class will be fixed, after having considered the availabilities of both students and professors. The first class will be given in the week of October 15, 2012.
An electronic version of the course notes and slides will be available on the website "MyULg" (ULg student identification required). |
|
Contacts :
|
| Eric Parmentier
Assistant professor
Office: B6c
Tel: +32 (0) 4 366 5024
Email: E.Parmentier@ulg.ac.be
Liesbet Geris
Assistant professor
Office: B52
Tel: +32 (0) 4 366 9587
Email: Liesbet.Geris@ulg.ac.be
Tristan Gilet
Assistant professor
Office: B52 - 0/423
Tel: +32 (0) 4 366 9166
Email: Tristan.Gilet@ulg.ac.be |
|
