Japanese scientists put “living skin” on robots to make them smile and look human

Japanese researchers have developed a robot with “living skin,” a compound that is made from human cells that combines biological and expressive functionalities, something that It could contribute to the study of wrinkle formation or reduce the use of animals in testing cosmetics and medicines.

The team, led by professor of industrial mechanics Shoji Takeuchi of the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo, used cells and extracellular matrix to create the dermis-equivalent coating and also He managed to develop a unique structure to anchor that skin to the robot that imitates human ligaments, allowing it to smile.

Most current humanoid robots use silicone rubber to emulate the softness of human skin, but to make the surface of their robot more human-like, the team grew human skin cells and created its “living skin” about 2 millimeters thick and 25 millimeters in diameter, with a layer of dermis and another of epidermis.

The conventional method of attaching tissue to artificial objects, such as a robot’s face, is to hook it onto protrusions, but this makes its expressions strange when they move.

Japanese researchers They have developed a mechanism that joins the tissue in perforations on the surface of the robot, inspired by the structure of human ligaments, allowing movements to be more fluid and natural.

The skin they have cultivated “has the potential to be an ideal covering material for robots due to its biological functionalities,” the team explained in the study published in the open access journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

“A particularly remarkable aspect of this method is its ability to provide robots with self-healing capabilities inherent to biological skin, especially useful for humanoid robots that require human-like capabilities to operate in unpredictable and complex environments,” the team commented.

Scientists have already created a finger-shaped robot covered in similar skin in the past and hope to continue their research.

“In the future we would like to integrate skin with functions such as nerves and blood vessels into a robot that moves using muscles made of muscle cells to make it more human-like,” Professor Takeuchi told the Mainichi newspaper.