CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Frontiers - Publisher Connector SPECIALTY GRAND CHALLENGE ARTICLE published: 18 June 2013 BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2013.00003 Grand challenges in bionics Danilo De Rossi* and Michael Pieroni Research Center “E. Piaggio”, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy *Correspondence: [email protected] Edited by: Cecilia Laschi, Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Italy “After he was healed and had made himself (Vincent et al., 2006; Shu et al., 2011) and International Society of Bionic Engineering a foot of wood, he declared himself an open integration of artificial parts into living (ISBE)8 was founded in 2010 to foster the enemy of the Lacedaemonians…”1 bodies. On one hand, biologically inspired exchange of information on bionic engi- design attempts to either conceive and con- neering research, development, and appli- “This machine, whose 33-foot wingspan struct new engineering artifacts and systems, cation. Moreover, the interest of the public was covered in raw silk, may be powered and to underpin the design principles of in bionics has been growing due to the by human muscles. Indeed, the pilot turn- living system. On the other hand, the inte- popularization of the recent technologi- ing the crankshaft with his hands and feet gration of artificial parts into living bodies cal progress in this field. This is evidenced make the wings flap and the machine fly”2. addresses the development of prostheses and by the recent delivery of the “Bionic Man” implants for body function replacement or built by Shadow Robot Company (London, “Bionics” as an inter-science discipline offi- augmentation. Both the research fields of UK) for the British Channel 4 documentary cially dates back to 1958 when Major J. E. “bionics” were addressed by two reports in “How to Build a Bionic Man”9. Steele coined the term making reference to Scientific America, entitled “Your Future with Lepora et al. (2013) reported and analyzed a research program at the Wright-Patterson Robots” and “Your Bionic Future,” issued the explosive growth of publications and dis- Air Force Base in Dayton, OH, USA. Steele in 2008 and 1999, respectively. In 1999 the coveries in the world of biomimetics of the (1960) used the term bionics to mean “a core of bionics focused on new body parts last 15 years. They created the topography and like-life system that copies some functions (implants, transplants, and prostheses) and inter-connectedness of the sub- disciplines and characteristics of a natural system.” new senses (analysis and synthesis of artifi- pertaining to this research field. At a higher A similar term, biomimetics, was coined cial senses and sensory substitution); how- level of clustering, specific communities have by Schmitt (1969) in the title of his paper ever, in 2008 bioinspired robots (artificial emerged that tend to group together within defined as “the study of formation, struc- bodies and artificial minds) found itself on the network. “Bionics” is more related to ture, or function of biologically produced the brink of bionic research. robotics (having an emphasis on biologically substances and materials (as enzymes The expected impact of bionic research based control and intelligence), ethology- or silk) and biological mechanisms and on society and economics has attracted based robotics (having an emphasis on con- processes (as protein synthesis or photo- many international funding initiatives, structing robot hardware based on animals), synthesis) especially for the purpose of such as Cybernetics Hand3 and Bionic and biomimetic actuators and sensors. synthesizing similar products by artificial Ear projects4, and has brought to life Frontiers in Bioengineering and mechanisms which mimic natural ones.” research consortia and networks, such Biotechnology has devoted two special sec- From these original definitions, overlap- as the Convergent Science Network of tions to biological inspired design. The first ping each other, different approaches and Biomimetics and Biohybrid System5 in the is Frontiers in Biomimetics, in which the targets have emerged. In such a process a role EU, the European Scientific Networks for content and coverage relates more to the was also played by the 1970s series “Bionic Artificial Muscles (ESNAM)6 and the Bionic original definition of biomimetics focus- Woman” and the 1972 novel “Cyborg” of Vision consortium in Australia7. As an addi- ing on the molecular, supramolecular, and Martin Caidin, which gave “bionics” the tional evidence of the interest of the scien- cellular aspects of the mimicking effort. connotation of merging biology and elec- tific community in the field of bionics the The second is Frontiers in Bionics, where tronics. Also the engineering community focus lies on learning abstract design rules has been sensitive to this influence and, from the field of natural science, especially nowadays, different meanings are used 3 “CYBERHAND EU project ” accessed April 3, 2013, biology, to help in the development of new http://www-arts.sssup.it/Cyberhand/introduction/ for bionics, biologically inspired design 4 “Bionic Ear project” last modified December 12, 2003, engineering concepts and to develop new http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-03-1715 engineering models and artifacts to test 1 “Herodotus, The Histories, 9.37 narrating the events _en.htm biological hypothesis. occurred to Hegesistratus of Elis,” Perseus under 5 “Convergent Science Network of Biomimetics and PhiloLogic, accessed on April 3, 2013, http://perseus. Biohybrid System” accessed April 9, 2013, http:// uchicago.edu/perseus-cgi/citequery3.pl?dbname=Gre csnetwork.eu/ 8 “International Society of Bionic Engineering, ISBE” ekTexts&getid=1&query=Hdt.%209.37 6 “European Scientific Networks for Artificial Muscles, accessed April 9, 2013, http://www.isbe-online.org/ 2 “Flying Machine (The Ornithopter), Leonardo Da ESNAM” accessed April 9, 2013, http://www.esnam.eu/ 9 “How to build a Bionic Man” documentary for British Vinci inventions” accessed April 3, 2013, http://www. 7 “Bionic Vision consortium in Australia” accessed Channel 4, accessed April 9, 2013, http://www.channel4. da-vinci-inventions.com/flying-machine.aspx April 9, 2013, http://www.bionicvision.org.au/ com/programmes/how-to-build-a-bionic-man www.frontiersin.org June 2013 | Volume 1 | Article 03 | 1 De Rossi and Pieroni The construction of ellectromechanochemical life Specific challenges of Frontiers in Two strictly related dimensions con- Progress in this inter-science area Bionics are multi-dimensional. cern biohybrid and biomorphic systems. of research will only happen through The first is related to body implants and Biohybrid systems exploit the combination increasing interaction among scientists prostheses, where flesh and machine meet of at least one biological and one artificial and engineers operating in different com- to restore or replace lost functions of the component (Reger et al., 2000; Warwick munities through a truly multidisciplinary human body (Miller, 2005; Kringelbach et al., 2010) in order to construct artificial approach. The journal aims at providing a et al., 2007). Another aspect of this dimen- system that not only mimic living ones but forum to exchange the scientific and tech- sion may also include human augmentation share similar fundamental principles. A nical results in order to foster the work in terms of sensory or motor performance. landmark aspect of this dimension is related on addressing the unsolved problems. Indeed, in tackling this problem, it is cru- to mastering technologies leading to a real The identified grand challenges should cial to consider the biocompatibility of integration of inert and living matter to lead encourage to focus on ambitious goal and foreign materials, toxicity, and durability. to a fully bionic sensory-motor system. are not intended to limits other important Grand challenges, which are still far from Biomorphic systems attempt to test the issues within the different dimensions of being overcome, exist in the conception coherence and feasibility of principles that bionics. Indeed, frequent reassessment of and development of implantable, wearable are thought to be at work in biological sys- grand challenges will be aimed at keeping or portable, efficient and compact energy tems. Such design philosophy is aimed at up these incentives according to the future sources. More ambitious goals aim to con- constructing artificial system that perform scientific findings and the research com- ceive and implement methodologies and better in the real world in terms of robust- munities’ stimuli. technologies that provide workable solu- ness, efficiency, and autonomy. They emu- tions for making a connection between the late the sensory system, architecture, and REFERENCES central or peripheral nervous system and mechanisms used by animals (Sandini and Bedau, M. A., McCaskill, J. S., Packard, N. H., Rasmussen, the artifacts in order to fully exploit the Metta, 2003; Northen et al., 2008; Laschi S., Adami, C., Green, D. G., et al. (2000). Open prob- power and sophistication of brain control. et al., 2009), and therefore could integrate lems in artificial life. Artif. Life 6, 363–376. doi: The second dimension relies on design biomorphic technologies. 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