Conclusion

Dear readers,

We are moving towards the end of this semester, and this will be our last update on this blog. It has been a long journey and we are glad that we had made it this far. We would like to thank all of you for your continuous support. It has been a very fun ride for us :)

Let us take a trip down to the memory lane of what we had wrote thus far.

Summary

We have kept Greg, Lisa, and his family and friends in captivity for a period of 10 weeks. Throughout this period, we have managed to know them better. We first look into the anatomy of beetle in general, then their functions towards the ecosystem. After that, products and technologies that were inspired from beetles were presented. Some of the interesting bioinspirations are the underwater robots, press roller, micro air vehicle, dew harvesting, spraying, and forest fire detection mechanisms. On top of that, dung beetle got our attention when we found out the existence of a vehicle named ‘Bio-Bug’ which operates based on bio-gas. We realised that the ability of dung beetle to utilize unwanted wastes by other organisms into useful energy for their consumption has the potential to be applied into human lives.

The use of biogas as the source of energy is not a new technology, there are communities who have realised the potential of renewable energy and applied it into equipment such as gas engine. Gas engine works similar to the conventional internal combustion engine but it is powered by biogas instead of gasoline. The thermal, chemical, and biochemical conversion methods of biomass were discussed in ‘Industrial Application’, posted back in May 2015.

Moving on, we then proposed a design concept based on the dung beetle and utilization of biogas into our daily life. The Biogas Generator for Residential Use was proposed. The working mechanism and design were illustrated and described. If you would like to know more about it, please leave your comments below and we are more than happy to talk to you! :D

We have also reverse engineered leaf beetle and treat Greg as our biological artefact. You can check out the reverse engineering worksheet for Greg over here. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, biomimicry is the art of learning from nature. The use of biomimicry in engineering design will lead us to a path towards sustainable future. As described by Janine M. Benyus,

"The more our world functions like the natural world, the more likely we are to endure on this home that is ours, but not ours alone."

Through holistic view of biomimicry, sustainable products and technologies can be inspired from the nature. The forms, features, and working systems of an organism can be imitated and applied into our daily lives. For example, in this blog, we proposed the design on the ‘Biogas Generator for Residential Use’, based on the working mechanism of dung beetles. It’s a sustainable process as we do not only consider a particular feature of the beetle, but the overall energy transferring mechanisms. Dung beetles have the ability to digest complex organic matters into soluble forms and convert the molecules into food. We applied similar concept into the Biogas Generator. Production of biogas such as methane is carried out through anaerobic digestion.

The concept of this system is sustainable as animal manures were applied for the biogas generator. Anaerobic decomposition will release methane which can then be applied for cooking or heating. The carbon dioxide released during combustion will be utilized by plants during photosynthesis. After that, the plants will act as a food source for the animals and the cycle repeats. 

Future Work

After a reflection session among the team members, we have come to realize some of the possible future aspects from what we have done throughout these 3 months. 

1. Types of beetle 

There are around 350,000 beetle species have been documented. This means that there is so much more to explore among the beetles besides looking at Greg and his clan. Other beetles such as rhinoceros beetle is available in Malaysia and that will be another good subject for study. 

2. Design concept

Besides, biogas generator, we have presented to you some of the available researches and technologies inspired by beetles. Due to the various types of beetle species, it is feasible to employ the features and working mechanisms into different field of our human lives. However, more studies are required if we want to produce an idea which is sustainable and useful in the future.

That concludes everything on this blog. And now for the grand finale! It's time to release our friends Greg, Lisa and their classmates back to the wild.

Fly Greg, fly! We are going to miss you.

All the best in there. Just don't get eaten will ya'? 

So long Greg and all. You guys helped us a lot in this assignment, and gave us lots of fun. Thank you! 

And also to our readers. Thanks again for joining us in this wonderful ride. It may not have been a smooth ride all the way, but we truly appreciate of everyone who participated with us. We wish you good luck and all the best in your life. Till we meet again. 

So long folks~ au revoir~ adiós~ zai jian~ selamat tinggal~ and goodbye~ :D