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Computational Biomimetics of Winged Seeds

Published: 19 November 2024 Publication History

Abstract

We develop a computational pipeline to facilitate the biomimetic design of winged seeds. Our approach leverages 3D scans of natural winged seeds to construct a bio-inspired design space by interpolating them with geodesic coordinates in the 3D diffeomorphism group. We formulate aerodynamic design tasks with probabilistic performance objectives and adapt a gradient-free optimizer to explore the design space and minimize the expectation of performance objectives efficiently and effectively. Our pipeline discovers novel winged seed designs that outperform natural counterparts in aerodynamic tasks, including long-distance dispersal and guided flight. We validate the physical fidelity of our pipeline by showcasing paper models of selected winged seeds in the design space and reporting their similar aerodynamic behaviors in simulation and reality.

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  1. Computational Biomimetics of Winged Seeds

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    cover image ACM Transactions on Graphics
    ACM Transactions on Graphics  Volume 43, Issue 6
    December 2024
    1828 pages
    EISSN:1557-7368
    DOI:10.1145/3702969
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License.

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 19 November 2024
    Published in TOG Volume 43, Issue 6

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    Author Tags

    1. computational design
    2. winged seeds

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