News & Events
deadline 29.02.2012 VDI International Bionic-Award 2012
Bionics often generates ideas and serves as stimulus for innovation with sustainable benefits for technology, economy and society. The award is endowed to support research and development oriented towards practical application and innovation by young scientists in the field of bionics. In 2012 the international Bionic-Award will be presented for the third time. The award ceremony will take place during the congress "Bionik-Wirtschaftsforum" in 2012.
Appropriate information will be communicated to candidates in good time and will be available on the website of the international Bionic-Award. The awardwinning work will also be presented during this congress.
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11.-15.03.2012 SPIE Smart Structures
The Organizing Committee of SPIE's 19th Annual International Symposium on Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring invites you to attend this exciting meeting. This unique symposium offers many opportunities to network with colleagues from a variety of disciplines in academia, industry, and government from all over the world. Over the last two decades, this meeting has grown from small beginnings in the then-emerging field of smart systems into a premier symposium. This symposium has been the incubator for the emergence of the field of electroactive polymers, also known as artificial muscles, for which the armwrestling contests is now one of its exciting annual events.
20.-23.03.2012 Bio-inspired Materials, DGM
Biological materials science is developing rapidly as a new field at the interface between materials science and biology. The reasons are quite diverse: On the one hand, the advances in regenerative medicine generate an ever growing need for new types of biomaterials with specific and well-defined interactions with the biological hostorganism. On the other hand, recent advances in materials haracterization and fabrication technologies have prompted scientists to ask how one can reformulate the structure of natural materials, taking advantage of the long-tried course of evolution and natural-selection, and utilizing this in bio-inspired designs for engineering applications.
27.-29.03.2012 Basics of Adhesion Science
The programme includes three main topics:
* Microscopy methods (mainly SEM and Cryo-SEM)
* Mechanical testing (adhesion and E-modulus of materials)
* Atomic force microscopy (AFM)
As this TS will consist of hands-on practical courses, the number of participating trainees will
be limited to fifteen. To apply for participation, please send a motivation letter together with a
short CV to Dr. Petra-Ditsche-Kuru. The deadline for applications is January 31st 2012. In
case we receive more than 15 applications, participants will be selected by the Action Core
Group.
29.-30. May 2012 EuroEAP 2012 - 2nd Intl. Conference on Electromechanically Active Polymer (EAP) transducers & artificial muscles
Potsdam, Germany, 29. - 30. May 2012
Over the last few years, the field of EAP transducers & artificial muscles has undergone an enormous expansion in basic research, industrial development and commercial exploitation. This expansion has stimulated in Europe the creation of the ‘European Scientific Network for Artificial Muscles’ (ESNAM), established as a COST Action (www.esnam.eu). The network gathers the most active European research institutes, industrial developers and end users in the EAP field. In an effort to disseminate current advances in this emerging field of science and technology, gathering experts from all over the world, the network organises and supports the EuroEAP conference. The event is conceived as an exclusive forum for international experts and professionals seeking scientific quality, industrial impact and opportunities of cooperation.
Further information and details at www.euroeap.eu.
10.06.-14.06.2012 4rd Int. Conf. Smart Materials Structures Systems - CIMTEC 2012
CIMTEC 2012 will gather together a large and qualified audience of materials scientists, physicists, chemists, biologists, physicians and engineers, as well as experts of a wide range of the most advanced and demanding research and application areas of smart materials and related technologies.
On the top of this premier event in materials, Tuscany will offer its wonderful landscape and its immense, unique artistic heritage!
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11.06.-13.06.2012 6th Int. Conf. on Relating Design in Nature with Science and Engineering
The Design and Nature conference is to be reconvened in 2012 following the success of previous meetings, the first of which was held in Udine, Italy in 2002; followed by Rhodes, Greece (2004); the New Forest, UK (2006); the Algarve (2008); and the last one in Pisa (2010).
Throughout history, many leading thinkers have been inspired by the parallels between nature and human design, in mathematics, engineering and other areas. Today, the huge increase in biological knowledge, developments in design engineering systems, together with the growth in computer power and developments in simulation modelling, have all made possible more comprehensive studies of nature.
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June 24-28, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics
The fourth IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics - BioRob 2012 - is a joint effort of the two IEEE Societies of Robotics and Automation - RAS - and Engineering in Medicine and Biology - EMBS. BioRob covers both theoretical and experimental challenges posed by the application of robotics and mechatronics in medicine and biology. The primary focus of Biorobotics is to analyze biological systems from a "biomechatronic" point of view, trying to understand the scientific and engineering principles underlying their extraordinary performance. This profound understanding of how biological systems work, behave and interact can be used for two main objectives: to guide the design and fabrication of novel, high performance bio-inspired machines and systems, for many different applications; and to develop novel nano, micro-, macro- devices that can act upon, substitute parts of, and assist human beings in prevention, diagnosis, surgery, prosthetics, rehabilitation and personal assistance.
09.-12.07.2012 Living Machines 2012 - The First International Conference on Biomimetics and Biohybrid Systems
The development of future real-world technologies will depend strongly on our understanding and harnessing of the principles underlying living systems and the flow of communication signals between living and artificial systems.
Biomimetics is the development of novel technologies through the distillation of principles from the study of biological systems. The investigation of biomimetic systems can serve two complementary goals. First, a suitably designed and configured biomimetic artefact can be used to test theories about the natural system of interest. Second, biomimetic technologies can provide useful, elegant and efficient solutions to unsolved challenges in science and engineering. Biohybrid systems are formed by combining at least one biological component—an existing living system—and at least one artificial, newly-engineered component. By passing information in one or both directions, such a system forms a new hybrid bio-artificial entity.
The development of either biomimetic or biohybrid systems requires a deep understanding of the operation of living systems, and the two fields are united under the theme of “living machines”—the idea that we can construct artefacts, such as robots, that not only mimic life but share the same fundamental principles; or build technologies that can be combined with a living body to restore or extend its functional capabilities.
Biomimetic and Biohybrid technologies, from nano- to macro-scale, are expected to produce major societal and economical impacts in quality of life and health, information and communication technologies, robotics, prosthetics, brain-machine interfacing and nanotechnology. Such systems should also lead to significant advances in the biological and brain sciences that will help us to better understand ourselves and the natural world. The following are some examples:
• Biomimetic robots and their component technologies (sensors, actuators, processors) that can intelligently interact with their environments
• Active biomimetic materials and structures that self-organize and self-repair
• Biomimetic computers—neuromimetic emulations of the physiological basis for intelligent behaviour
• Biohybrid brain-machine interfaces and neural implants
• Artificial organs and body-parts including sensory organ-chip hybrids and intelligent prostheses.
20.-24.08.2012 7th Plant BioMechanics International Conference
Plant biomechanics is an expanding interdisciplinary field, at the interfaces of biology, mechanics, physics and engineering. Despite its broad range of studies, it has long been felt that the researchers dealing with biomechanics have a lot to share. The first Plant Biomechanics International Conference was organized in Montpellier (France) in 1994. The 2nd PBMIC was held in 1997 in Reading (UK), the 3rd in 2000, in Badenweiler (Germany), the 4th in 2003 was in Lansing (MI USA), the 5th in 2006 was in Stockholm (Sweden), the 6th in 2009 was in Cayenne (FG) in South America Over the years, the Plant Biomechanics International Conference has become the central event of the Plant Biomechanics research community, as well as a unique place for interdisciplinary exchanges around the amazing features that Plants have evolved to sense, acclimate and adapt to the mechanical challenges they have been submitted to.
27.-31.08.2012 FROM ANIMALS TO ANIMATS 12
IMPORTANT DATES
Call for workshop deadline, April 2nd, 2012
Paper submission deadline, February 20th, 2012
Conference dates, August 28th-30th, 2012
Workshops date, August 27th and 31st, 2012
The objective of this interdisciplinary conference is to bring together researchers in computer science, artificial intelligence,
alife, control, robotics, neurosciences, ethology, evolutionary biology, and related fields so as to further our understanding of the
behaviors and underlying mechanisms that allow natural and artificial animals to adapt and survive in uncertain environments. The conference
will focus on experiments with well-defined models --- robot models, computer simulation models, mathematical models --- designed to help
characterize and compare various organizational principles or architectures underlying adaptive behavior in real animals and in
synthetic agents, the animats.
07.-11.10.2012 Materials Science & Technology 2012 Conference & Exhibition
Bioinspired Materials Engineering
Organizer: Cordt Zollfrank, Technische Universität
Nanomaterials and Nanodevices
Organizers: David R Forrest, Naval Surface Warfare Center; William E. Frazier, Naval Air Warfare Center
Next Generation Biomaterials
Organizers: Roger J. Narayan, University of North Carolina & North Carolina State University; Kalpana S. Katti, North Dakota State University; Kajal K Mallick, University of Warwick; Vilupanur Ravi, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Varshni Singh, Louisiana State University
Recent Advances in Laser Fabrication and Characterization Methods: Laser Processing of Biomedical Materials
Organizers: Stephen Copley, Washington State University; Nitin Chopra, University of Alabama; Roger Narayan, UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University
Surface Properties of Biomaterials III
Organizers: Amit Bandyopadhyay, Washington State University; Susmita Bose, Washington State University; Mukesh Kumar, Biomet Inc.
17.10.2012 3rd Int. Symp. on Biomimetics - bionik-A
Organisation and Selforganisation in Nature: Learning from Evolution and the Strategies of the Natural Energy System - A Challenge for this and future Generations
After the successful first edition in 2008 the International Symposium on Biomimetics "bionik-A" took place from October 6th to 8th, 2010 for the second time in Villach. D.ID. Mag. Peter Piccottini, program director of the international master degree program "BIONIK/ BIOMIMETICS IN ENERGY SYSTEMS" at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences - Fachhochschule Kaernten - at the location Villach - Technologiepark (tpv), greeted a number of international experts from the young science discipline "biomimetics", which refered to different issues like biomimetics in energy systems, self-X material (self-repairing and self-healing materials), energy materials (special materials for energy conversion and energy storage) or biomimetics for building sciences and took part in the discussions at the symposium bionik-A on October 7th, 2010 at Bamberg Hall, Parkhotel in Villach.
October 07-11, 2012 Materials Science & Technology 2012 Conference & Exhibition
MS&T’12 focuses on 10 theme areas covering the breadth of materials science and engineering.
- Biomaterials
- Ceramic and Glass Materials
- Electronic and Magnetic Materials
- Energy Issues
- Fundamentals and Characterization
- Iron and Steel
- Materials – Environment Interactions
- Materials Performance
- Processing and Product Manufacturing
- Special Topics