Evolution of Vertebrate Locomotory Systems
Admiring nature for its seeming perfection, at least when one of its products are humans themselves, many concepts are based on „learning from nature“. Biomimicry, where the mechanical properties and control architectures in animals are more or less copie
- PDF / 4,146,947 Bytes
- 29 Pages / 481.89 x 691.654 pts Page_size
- 104 Downloads / 228 Views
*
Institut fiir Spc~iellc Zoologie und Evolutionsbiologil' mit Phyletischem Museum Friedrich-Schiller- U niversitiit Jena Erbcrtstr. 1 0774:3 .Jena. Germany c-mail: fischerCQ:pan.zoo. uni-jcna.dt> http:/ /www.zoo.uni-jcna.de 2 Fachgebict Biomechatronik, lnstitut fiir Mikrosystemtechnik, }\Jechatronik und Mechanik. Fakultiit fur Maschinenbau Technischc UnivcrsiHit Ilmenau PO Box 10 05 65 D-98684 Ilmenau e-mail: H artrnut. \Vitte~~tu- ilmenan.de http://www. maschinenbau. tu- ilmenau.de /bionik- netz /bm. htrnl 1
1 Introduction Admiring nature for its seeming perfection, at least when one of its products are humans themselves, many concepts are based on ,learning from nature". Biomimicry, where the nwchanical properties and control architectures in animals are more or less copied, or bionics, where biological structures are rebuilt in technical devices are only two examples of such concepts. But, there is a striking difference between biological and technical structures defined as solutions to external demands. Whereas technical structures can be and arc created de novo, biological structures an: always the result of a permanent
and ongoing historical process. They arc carrying their evolutionary burden, and by mere logic their ability to adapt to actual demands can only be perfect, if the past and recent functional requirements are identical. Seilac:her (1970) drew a triangle in which he named the three vertices: "historisc:h-phylogenetischer Aspekt", ,okologisc:h-adaptiver Aspekt" and ,bautechnisc:her Aspekt" (Figure 1). Gould (2002) called ,these idealized end-members" ,historical", ,functional". and ,structural" (p. 1052), and the whole thing an ,aptive triangle". ,Structural" includes two aspects: first, the ,immediate and deterministic: consequences of the physical properties of matter and the dynamical nature *First, Martin Fischer wants to thank very much Teresa Zielinska and Friedrich Pfeiffer for inviting him to Udine to a phantastic meeting. Roy Ritzmann, with whom an exciting cooperation started there, helped with his critical comments and language polishing to improve the manuscript. \Ve are grateful to all members of the Jena ,Locomotion group" who helped with their enthusiasm, ideas, and practical help. We thank Gertrud Klauer for focussing our view on the importance of sensory structures. The work was granted by the Deutsche Forsc:hungsgemeinschaft (DFG) (Innovationskolleg ,Bewegungssysteme" Teilprojekte Al and Bl, and Schwcrpunktprogramm .,Autonomes Laufen") and Berufsgenossem;chaft Gaststatten und Nahrungsmittel (BGN) through the Kompetenzzentrum fi.ir lnterdiszipliniire Priivention (KIP) at .Jena.
F. Pfeiffer et al. (eds.), Walking: Biological and Technological Aspects © Springer-Verlag Wien 2004
52
M. S. Fischer and H. F. Witte
Hlstorisch- phylogenetlscher Aspekt
Okologlsch-adaptlver Aspekt
Bautechnlscher Aspekt
Figure 1. Seilacher's aptive triangle, a methodology to locate features to their prevailing influence on their current demands. After Seilacher (1970).
of forces" (ibid. p. 1054),
Data Loading...
