To develop innovative technical solutions, designers seek inspiration from nature and its almost infinite pool of biological solutions. However, understanding biological solutions and transferring appropriate analogies to develop technical solutions pose a considerable challenge. A strategy to facilitate interdisciplinary understanding is collaboration between engineers and biologists. So far, the impact of this type of collaboration on analogical transfer and ideation has not been studied in an experimental setting. To close this research gap, this work examines design experiments with engineer–biologist pairs, half of whom were provided with a support for analogical transfer (BioId Support). Engineer–biologist pairs were compared to single disciplinary pairs with regards to the transfer of selected analogy categories. The impact of the transferred analogy categories on the quality of solution ideas was analysed—quality was regarded as an indicator for the solution ideas’ innovative potential. The results show a positive influence of the supported collaboration between engineers and biologists on the transferred analogy categories. These analogy categories positively influence the quality of solution ideas. This work indicates benefits of collaboration between engineers and biologists for bio-inspired design. In addition, it provides a starting point for improving bio-inspired design methods.

中文翻译：

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仿生设计：工程师和生物学家之间的合作对类比转移和构思的影响

为了开发创新的技术解决方案，设计师从大自然及其几乎无穷无尽的生物解决方案中寻求灵感。然而，理解生物解决方案并转移适当的类比来开发技术解决方案是一个相当大的挑战。促进跨学科理解的一种策略是工程师和生物学家之间的合作。到目前为止，尚未在实验环境中研究此类合作对类比转移和构思的影响。为了弥补这一研究差距，这项工作检查了工程师-生物学家对的设计实验，其中一半获得了类比转移的支持（BioId 支持）。在选定类比类别的转移方面，工程师-生物学家对与单个学科对进行了比较。分析了转移类比类别对解决方案创意质量的影响——质量被视为解决方案创意创新潜力的指标。结果表明，工程师和生物学家之间支持的协作对转移的类比类别产生了积极影响。这些类比类别对解决方案的质量有积极的影响。这项工作表明工程师和生物学家之间合作进行仿生设计的好处。此外，它还为改进仿生设计方法提供了一个起点。结果表明，工程师和生物学家之间支持的协作对转移的类比类别产生了积极影响。这些类比类别对解决方案的质量有积极的影响。这项工作表明工程师和生物学家之间合作进行仿生设计的好处。此外，它还为改进仿生设计方法提供了一个起点。结果表明，工程师和生物学家之间支持的协作对转移的类比类别产生了积极影响。这些类比类别对解决方案的质量有积极的影响。这项工作表明工程师和生物学家之间合作进行仿生设计的好处。此外，它还为改进仿生设计方法提供了一个起点。