Editorial: Special Issue on Sustainable Bioinspired Design and Manufacturing

The increasing urgency of global environmental challenges, resource depletion, and climate change has compelled researchers and industries to rethink conventional approaches to product design and manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing is no longer merely a technological aspiration but a critical necessity for ensuring ecological balance, economic resilience, and social well-being. In this context, bioinspired design and manufacturing have emerged as transformative paradigms that seek inspiration from natural systems, biological processes, and evolutionary mechanisms to develop efficient, adaptive, and sustainable engineering solutions.

Nature generally provides extraordinary examples of optimized structures, resilient systems, and energy-efficient processes which have been developed through millions of years of evolution. By learning from these natural principles, researchers are developing innovative approaches capable of reducing environmental impact and simultaneously improving performance and functionality. Sustainable bioinspired design integrates biological intelligence with advanced engineering, manufacturing technologies, artificial intelligence, and digital systems to create environmentally conscious products and processes.

This special issue on “Sustainable Bioinspired Design and Manufacturing” aims to provide a multidisciplinary publication for researchers, academicians, practitioners, and industry experts in the field. Originally, this special issue was conceptualized in response to the growing need for innovative manufacturing solutions that can contribute meaningfully toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs), particularly those related to responsible production and consumption, industry innovation, sustainable infrastructure, and climate action.

The papers included in this issue demonstrate the breadth and diversity of bioinspired sustainable engineering research and also its application in manufacturing. The contributions span healthcare manufacturing, biologically inspired design methodologies, robotics, sustainable manufacturing systems, and quality engineering approaches. Together, these studies highlight how inspiration from nature can be translated into practical engineering solutions capable of addressing complex societal and industrial challenges.

The opening review article by Kaushik et al. explores the transformative role of additive manufacturing in sustainable healthcare. The paper critically examines how three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies enable localized production, material efficiency, customized medical devices, and reduced waste generation, thereby contributing significantly toward sustainable medical manufacturing ecosystems. The study also discusses challenges related to biocompatibility, regulation, scalability, and environmental impacts associated with nonbiodegradable materials.

The paper by Srinivasan and Chakrabarti investigates the influential role of process and product knowledge in biologically inspired design ideation and realization. Their work contributes to a deeper understanding of how systematic frameworks and bioinspired design tools support creativity, concept generation, and prototype realization. The study highlights the importance of combining process-based and product-based knowledge for the successful realization of biologically inspired engineering systems.

The contribution by Charu and Gupta presents the design and development of a bioinspired serpentine robotic system intended for excavation and inspection applications. Inspired by snake locomotion, the modular robotic platform demonstrates enhanced maneuverability in constrained and challenging environments.

The study by Davinder Singh focuses on integrating Six Sigma methodologies within bioinspired manufacturing systems, particularly in the context of Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The paper identifies critical success factors that influence sustainable manufacturing performance and demonstrates how structured quality improvement frameworks can contribute toward operational excellence and sustainability objectives. This work is particularly valuable for industries aiming to improve competitiveness while minimizing environmental impact.

Singh et al.’s paper shows that vegetable oil-based nanofluid minimum quantity lubrication significantly enhances grinding performance and surface quality while reducing environmental and health impacts compared to conventional cooling methods.

Kumar et al.’s work demonstrates that recycled PLA reinforced with wood dust can improve thermal and mechanical properties for 3D printing applications, supporting sustainable additive manufacturing.

Collectively, the articles in this special issue reflect the growing maturity of sustainable bioinspired research and its practical significance across multiple engineering domains. The issue also highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the field, bringing together concepts from manufacturing engineering, design science, robotics, healthcare technologies, quality engineering, sustainability studies, and digital innovation.

We sincerely thank all authors for their valuable contributions and the reviewers for their rigorous evaluation and constructive feedback that significantly improved the quality of the papers. We also express our gratitude to the editorial team of Smart and Sustainable Manufacturing Systems and ASTM International for their support in bringing this special issue to fruition.

We hope that this special issue will inspire future research, foster interdisciplinary collaborations, and encourage the development of sustainable engineering solutions inspired by the remarkable intelligence of natural systems.