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Synopsis Bioinspired design (BID) is an inherently interdisciplinary practice that connects fundamental biological knowledge with the capabilities of engineering solutions. This paper discusses common social challenges inherent to interdisciplinary research, and specific to collaborating across the disciplines of biology and engineering when practicing BID. We also surface best practices that members of the community have identified to help address these challenges. To accomplish this goal, we address challenges of bioinspiration through a lens of recent findings within the social scientific study of interdisciplinary teams. We propose three challenges faced in BID: (1) complex motivations across collaborating researchers, (2) misperceptions of relationships and benefits between biologists and engineers, and (3) institutionalized barriers that disincentivize interdisciplinary work. We advance specific recommendations for addressing each of these challenges. 

Synopsis Bioinspired design (BID) is an interdisciplinary research field that can lead to innovations to solve technical problems. There have been many attempts to develop a framework to de-silo engineering and biology and implement processes to enable BID. In January of 2022, we organized a symposium at the 2022 Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting to bring together educators and practitioners of BID. The symposium aimed to (a) consolidate best practices in teaching bioinspiration, (b) create and sustain effective multidisciplinary teams, (c) summarize best approaches to conduct problem-based or solution-driven fundamental research, and (d) bring BID innovations to market. During the symposium, several themes emerged. Here we highlight three critical themes that need to be addressed for BID to become a truly interdisciplinary strategy that benefits all stakeholders and results in innovation. First, there is a need for a usable methodology that leads to proper abstraction of biological principles for engineering design. Second, the utilization of engineering models to test biological hypotheses is essential for the continued engagement of biologists in BID. Third, there is a necessity of proven team-science strategies that will lead to successful collaborations between engineers and biologists. Accompanying this introduction is a variety of perspectives and research articles highlighting best practices in BID research and product development and guides that can highlight the challenges and facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations in the field of BID. 

Abstract Muscle fatigue can reduce performance potentially affecting an organism's fitness. However, some aspects of fatigue could be overcome by employing a latch-mediated spring actuated (LaMSA) system where muscle activity is decoupled from movement. We estimated the effects of muscle fatigue on different aspects of mandible performance in six species of ants, two whose mandibles are directly actuated by muscles and four that have LaMSA “trap-jaw” mandibles. We found evidence that the LaMSA system of trap-jaw ants may prevent some aspects of performance from declining with repeated use, including duration, acceleration, and peak velocity. However, inter-strike interval increased with repeated strikes suggesting that muscle fatigue still comes into play during the spring loading phase. In contrast, one species with directly actuated mandibles showed a decline in bite force over time. These results have implications for design principles aimed at minimizing the effects of fatigue on performance in spring and motor actuated systems. 

Synopsis Click beetles (Coleoptera: Elateridae) are known for their unique clicking mechanism that generates a powerful legless jump. From an inverted position, click beetles jump by rapidly accelerating their center of mass (COM) upwards. Prior studies on the click beetle jump have focused on relatively small species (body length ranging from 7 to 24 mm) and have assumed that the COM follows a ballistics trajectory during the airborne phase. In this study, we record the jump and the morphology of 38 specimens from diverse click beetle genera (body length varying from 7 to 37 mm) to investigate how body length and jumping performance scale across the mass range. The experimental results are used to test the ballistics motion assumption. We derive the first morphometric scaling laws for click beetles and provide evidence that the click beetle body scales isometrically with increasing body mass. Linear and nonlinear statistical models are developed to study the jumping kinematics. Modeling results show that mass is not a predictor of jump height, take-off angle, velocity at take-off, and maximum acceleration. The ballistics motion assumption is strongly supported. This work provides a modeling framework to reconstruct complete morphological data sets and predict the jumping performance of click beetles from various shapes and sizes. 

Abstract Flying fishes (family Exocoetidae) are known for achieving multi-modal locomotion through air and water. Previous work on understanding this animal’s aerodynamic and hydrodynamic nature has been based on observations, numerical simulations, or experiments on preserved dead fish, and has focused primarily on flying pectoral fins. The first half of this paper details the design and validation of a modular flying fish inspired robotic model organism (RMO). The second half delves into a parametric aerodynamic study of flying fish pelvic fins, which to date have not been studied in-depth. Using wind tunnel experiments at a Reynolds number of 30,000, we investigated the effect of the pelvic fin geometric parameters on aerodynamic efficiency and longitudinal stability. The pelvic fin parameters investigated in this study include the pelvic fin pitch angle and its location along the body. Results show that the aerodynamic efficiency is maximized for pelvic fins located directly behind the pectoral fins and is higher for more positive pitch angles. In contrast, pitching stability is neither achievable for positive pitching angles nor pelvic fins located directly below the pectoral fin. Thus, there is a clear a trade-off between stability and lift generation, and an optimal pelvic fin configuration depends on the flying fish locomotion stage, be it gliding, taxiing, or taking off. The results garnered from the RMO experiments are insightful for understanding the physics principles governing flying fish locomotion and designing flying fish inspired aerial-aquatic vehicles.