Biomim LAB Show #1

9.30am - 10am

Climbing like a gecko or a tree frog, the secrets of membership revealed

Anthony Herrel, Biologist, Editor Journal of Zoology, Head of IBEES UMR 7179 C.N.R.S/M.N.H.N. Département Adaptations du Vivant, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle.

Anthony Herral will start by explaining the principles of adhesion and the physical mechanisms that make animals like a tree frog or a gecko climb smooth walls with some pictures of the animals and some diagrams.

Then you will see a demonstration with live animals to show that the tree frog and the gecko do not have the same abilities.

Finally, Anthony Herral will show examples of bioinspiration from these animals with a piece of tyre (tree frog) and 'geckskin', an adhesive material inspired by the gecko.

Biomim LAB Show #2

10:00 - 10:30 a.m.

Origami crumpling: a structured random structure inspired by nature with amazing properties

Vincent Floderer, Artist, co-founder of Plifaltec

Origami-inspired folding techniques have a vast application potential due to their mechanical properties, which are often used by nature.

In this presentation you will learn about this potential and how nature can inspire us to invent optimised structures.

Vincent Floderer will detail the crumpling technique he has developed, its properties and its relevance through demos of crumpled structures. Then we will present the applications we are working on: light structures that can be deployed on the basis of paper or light synthetic materials that can be used in agriculture or for the creation of shelters. What if we used the processes derived from origami and used in nature to design and propose innovative products intended for the entire industrial world?

Biomim LAB Show #3

2pm - 2.30pm

The flexible mechanical design inspired by aquatic plants

Sophie Ramananarivo, Senior Lecturer, Hydrodynamics Laboratory of the Ecole Polytechnique and CNRS.

How do plants survive strong winds or currents? And can they be used to develop resilient structures that can adapt to changes in their environment without human intervention?

Plants take advantage of their flexibility to bend into a more streamlined shape under flow. This strategy reduces the stresses they are subjected to, thus preventing breakage or tearing. You will discover how the particular morphology of plants and their leaves determines the way they deform, offering interesting solutions for the development of wind and current resistant structures for engineering and architecture.

Biomim LAB Show #4

14.30 - 15.00

BeachCorail The ocean to strengthen the coastline!

Marc Jeannin, Senior Lecturer HDR. LaSIE - La Rochelle University

The considerable increase in coastal erosion in recent years has become a major issue. Dikes are collapsing due to wave scouring.

The aim of our study is to develop a coastal reinforcement system capable of 'self-sustaining' from the natural elements of seawater, inspired by 'beachrocks', rocks that form naturally on ocean coasts by the precipitation of calcium carbonate under the action of both several microbial communities and electrochemistry.

For several years, the LaSIE has been developing a technique to induce the precipitation of calcomagnesian deposits (natural cement between marine sediments) by applying an electric current to metal grids placed in seawater. By associating calcifying marine bacteria isolated by the microbiologists of the LIENSs laboratory, we are developing a beachrock 'simulator' that allows for the accelerated formation of an ecomaterial whose resistance is similar to that of a rock.