Individual reflection - Jason Khoo Chang Jian

What was the most interesting proposed used of biomimicry that was developed in blog? Why?

The first thing that came across my mind was turtle can be proposed in biomimicry. The most general ones would be turtle shell. Why turtle shell? Because of its hard and rigid shell that is made up of keratin. From here, we analysed what turtle shells can be mimicked into. As this blog was being developed from time to time, I felt surprised because there are quite a number of things that can be mimicked from turtle shells than I expected!! Hence, making this blog interesting.

Do you think that your design is patentable? Is it unique enough to be approved?

This design is definitely patentable because the mechanical properties of the turtle shell can be used in many things such as bridges (stability) as well as body armour (protection). Since we know the behavior such as yield strength and Young’s modulus for the material, hence, the proposed design can be further studied. If it is financially feasible, it would definitely bring advantages to the community.

Did you think that working as a team made this project easier or harder? Why?

Working as a team is easier because we have more manpower whereby one will help in proposing ideas, doing research, compiling as well as simulation, thus, the workload will be much easier and save time. I would like to specially thank Khaw Wei Chuen for his effort on SolidWorks. The simulation that he conducted allows us and readers to have an in depth understanding on the analysis that we proposed from turtle’s shell. Without him, the blog might not be comprehensive.