Safety on the shop floor is about to get better, and you can thank fruits and animals for their help. Groundbreaking research from BMW's Bio-Inspired-Safety Systems (BISS) Consortium is leading the way to create new safety prototypes based off of natural models.
BISS researchers are studying the way that fruits fall to design better helmets, and they are examining the way an alligator's protective armor distributes force to neighboring scales for protective biking gear.
This research will help create better safety gear for manufacturing workers through bio-engineering, which will be 20 percent lighter and tougher than the current materials we use today.
For more information on the BISS Consortium, and for other innovative industrial processes and products, check out IEN's Engineering by Design video.