I believe it was Feynman who said something to the effect of "airplanes do not fly like birds do, but they fly much faster and can carry much more". So yes, we do not need to exactly replicate how humans do things in order to do human-like things in a useful manner. Planes do not flap their wings, but the jet engine (which is completely unnatural) does a great job of making things fly when paired with fixed wings of a certain shape.