Bioinspired Designs from Gripping Geckos, Bouncing Bugs, Leap’n Lizards, and Smart Squirrels
with Professor Robert Full
Wednesday Sept 5, 2018
Doors at 6:00 PM, Talk at 7:00 PM
Space is limited!
Audience will be admitted until the venue reaches capacity.
Cafe Leila, 1724 San Pablo Ave, Berkeley
East Bay Science Cafe is back in a new location! Join us at Cafe Leila on San Pablo Avenue for an evening of science, conversation, and community. Cafe Leila specializes in fresh California Cuisine and artisanal tea drinks. BYOB (wine and beer) is welcome with purchase of menu item.
As human technologies take on more of the characteristics of Nature, Nature becomes a better teacher. The field of Biologically Inspired Design is becoming a leading paradigm for the development of new technologies. BioMotion Science has figured prominently in advancing our understanding. Geckos climbing with hairy toes has resulted in new adhesives. Insects running and squishing through cracks led to new search-and-rescue robots, as well as inspiration for children’s movies (A Bug’s Life, Pixar). Swinging lizard tails led to new ways to understand balance in animals and robots. Smart squirrels are helping to test ideas about learning motion. To broaden participation in the field, Professor Full created a new course for all, Bioinspired Design, which takes one from a scientific discovery through to a design, revealing how a diverse set of minds is required to invent the future.
Professor Robert Full
Robert J. Full is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California at Berkeley. He received his PhD from SUNY Buffalo and was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at The University of Chicago. In his over thirty years at Berkeley, Professor Full has led an international effort to demonstrate the value of integrative biology and biological inspiration by the formation of interdisciplinary collaborations among biologists, engineers, and mathematicians from academia and industry. Professor Full received Berkeley’s Distinguished Teaching Award, an HHMI Professorship, and was elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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