Biomimicry

A Sustainable Design Methodology Mar 23 - Apr 20, 2015

I looked at my chickens’ feet first, and then my cockatiel’s. The chicken foot, rough, tough, rather unappealing was interesting as a large scale support, perhaps for a tree house I was imagining, but the cockatiel’s had a wonderful symmetry - two toes in front, two in back that seemed perfect for attaching and hanging things like hammocks, treehouse structures, shade sails to trees and branches. With the hot weather I currently have around 9 shade sails hanging in the backyard and I’m always challenged by ways to hang them from the house, trees, fences, free standing supports.

The cockatiel claw grip was firm, stable, flexible, and could grasp a finger, climb fabric, walk flat on the ground.

In my mind I envisioned being able to attach claw replicas of different sizes to tree limbs for hanging structures for tree houses and platforms, hammocks, or for climbing and swinging. They would tighten when pressure or weight was applied, and could be loosened probably by lifting one of the appendages in an unlocking motion. Tree and limb health is always a concern so I see these as rather fluid in their pressure -  Not encircling the branch, and not puncturing it.

This would probably have a metal, jointed skeleton integrated with spring-based tension controls, covered and padded.