“The Ultimate Machine”

“A machine that runs on a wide variety of fuels, emits only recyclable or biodegradable materials, accepts a wide range of informational inputs, performs amazing feats of data processing, and produces a wide variety of output functions may just be the ultimate machine,” writes Compressed Air Magazine. Attributing the statement to George Piotrowski of the University of Florida, it continues: “This machine is the human body.”

The suggestion given by Piotrowski is that “engineers apply the biological principles and devices found in the human body to their design strategies.” Lessons in weight-bearing design can be learned from the human body, which is “built up of optimally designed links made of a fatigue-resistant composite material.” All parts​—bones, muscles, tendons, and cartilage—​work together to strengthen the whole.

Bearing designers can learn from human joints, which normally show no wear, yet can sustain a load that is three to ten times the body weight. Very little energy is lost to friction, which in some joints is less than that found when using Teflon. The “hollow” tube of human bone is also a splendid example of weight-bearing design. The ends of longer bones in the body are made of bone that is spongy and more resilient, thus resisting impact injuries. And the stress that would normally occur when fastening two dissimilar parts is offset in the body by the gradual change from bone to tendons wherever they are attached.