Beetlux™: AI Enabled Ideation for Beetle Inspired Lighting Brand

By Tojin T. Eapen

In this article, we will detail the process of using text-to-image models to develop concept lighting products for Beetlux™, a concept brand inspired by the characteristics of beetles.

Beetles, along with weevils, belong to the order Coleoptera, which is the largest order in the class Insecta, constituting 25% (350,000 – 400,000) of all species. Beetles are characterized by their hard exoskeleton and hard forewings called elytra. Some scientists believe that the design of artificial beetles is the holy grail of biomimicry engineering.

Beetles have also been a source of inspiration for the development of bioinspired lighting systems. One well-known example is the firefly, a beetle belonging to the family Lampyridae, which produces light through a process known as bioluminescence. The light-emitting protein, luciferin, and the enzyme luciferase are responsible for producing the light. Scientists have studied these compounds and have been able to replicate the process in artificial systems, such as organic LED lights.

We employed text-to-image AI tools to generate various novel designs for beetle-inspired lighting products. By providing various prompts as inputs, we were able to quickly produce a variety of product designs for the Beetlux™ concept brand. The following video shows some of these concept designs.

A sample of 20 novel designs obtained using this approach is shown below in the collage. One potential Generative AI Business (GAIB) model is for Beetlux™ to display several of these designs on its website, allowing customers to vote for their favorite designs. The top design would then be quickly manufactured and sold as a limited edition product. This approach could be an effective way to generate a high volume of unique and interesting designs, while also utilizing the collective tastes and preferences of a large group of people. 

This post is part of a series of articles on the use of generative AI for bioinspired product ideation. The use of AI for product concept generation allows for the quick creation of many potentially novel designs, which could then be evaluated and refined to select the most promising concepts to move to the next stage of the product development process.

To learn how leading Fortune Global 500 companies such as ABB, Bosch, Google, Samsung, and NetApp have used Innomantra's Functional Innovation Methodology to turbocharge their idea management process, schedule a meeting today at calendly.com/innomantra.