Bio-Derived Metamaterials: A Hierarchical Biomimetics-Based Evaluation System for Cross-Scale Performance in Chaozhou Woodcarving

For centuries, artisans have resolved intricate engineering conundrums with intuitive ingenuity, bequeathing a legacy of design wisdom that remains largely untapped in contemporary biomimetics. This “anthro-creative” form of biomimicry, deeply embedded within traditional crafts such as Chaozhou woodcarving, is predominantly tacit and qualitative, which has traditionally eluded systematic interpretation. To address this, we propose the Hierarchical Biomimetics-Based Evaluation System (HBBES), a transdisciplinary framework that couples expert-defined hierarchies through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) with perceptual assessments from one hundred public evaluators via Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation (FCE). Applied to canonical works—including the Lobster and Crab Basket (overall score: 4.36/5.00)—the HBBES revealed a striking finding: both expert and public valuations are anchored not in structural hierarchy, but in aesthetic resonance, particularly the craft’s lifelike morphological analogy and nuanced modulation of light. Beyond offering a replicable pathway for translating artisanal intuition into operative design principles, this study proposes a culture-driven paradigm for biomimetics, bridging intangible heritage with technological innovation.