Abstract: Humans have frequently looked to natural phenomena to inspire the design of art, structures, and mechanisms. However, there are as many different ways to learn from nature as there are words for this approach: bioinspiration, biomimicry, and biodesign to name a few. In this talk, I propose a taxonomy for categorizing distinct biodesign approaches and use examples from my own research to illustrate the methodology and benefits of each. In particular, I introduce the field of Animal-Robot Interactions and describe how bio-inspired approaches can be used to further biological inquiry while advancing robotics.

Bio: Talia Y. Moore is an assistant professor in Robotics and in Mechanical Engineering  at the University of Michigan. She received a BS in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley and a PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University. She is a recipient of the Gans award for distinguished contributions to the field of comparative biomechanics. Her work involves bio-inspired mechanical design, musculoskeletal modeling, materials testing, dynamics, and information theory to examine arrhythmic biological motion in both laboratory and field-based settings.