Bioinspired Microsensors and Micromachines

Dear Colleagues,

Nature observable phenomena have been always source of inspiration for technology. Ancient myth of Icarus already describes a flight attempt taking ideas from birds; nowadays, modern plane wings are devised with winglets that reproduce tip feathers in the eagle wing in search for reduction of aircraft drag. While in the 20th century engineering and science were basically establishing their foundings, in the late decades they are following again a clear source of inspiration, Nature and living organisms, in what is known as bioinspired devices. After millions of years of biological evolution, many principles have been tried and discarded, while the most successful have been improved generation after generation up to impressive levels of performance, resistance or efficiency. Biomimicry can be taken at many levels of observation: viruses, bacteria, tissues, plants, insects and reptiles, fish, birds or mammals, or even on how they interact and behave alone or in societies. Some of these engineering designs can be found in the field of artificial organs to reproduce integral function, monitoring systems in the physical, chemical and biochemical fields, microfluidic platforms to carry out complete physicochemical processes, artificial sensing and movement control for robotic applications, even in data processing and networking. Success is specially observed when sensing and/or actuating is coupled with computer processing for intelligent operation. In the late years, the emphasis placed on nanotechnologies has driven even further to observe and reproduce Nature at the nanoscale, and many principles at the nanolevel are being considered and incorporated in micro & nanodevices.

This Special Issue will bring together different examples of biomimetic principles applied in the design of nano & microsystems, specially focusing on micromachines, microorgans and sensors and their principles of operation, in order to illustrate the potentials of this exciting field of technology.

Dr. Manel Del Valle
Guest Editor

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