TOKYO: The face of the future.
A team of scientists has announced a robotic face covered with a thin layer of smiling skin that heals itself and in the hope of developing more human-like cyborgs.
The skin is made from a mixture of human skin cells grown on a collagen model in a University of Tokyo laboratory and placed on a 3D-printed resin base, reports New Scientist.
The project’s scientists, who published their findings Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science, believe that living skin could be an important step toward creating robots that can heal and feel human.
Professor Shoji Takeuchi told The Times of London: “It will be more useful for robots that interact closely with people, such as living skin, healthcare, services, companions and human robots.”
Lab-grown skin attached to it is simple, the face of a small robot can smile, and the tissue can heal itself.
“Human skin can heal itself when damaged, similar to how it heals wounds,” Takeuchi said.
“It is more possible to integrate sensory functions such as sensitivity and temperature detection with living tissue.”
First, cultured dermal cells and epidermal cells are added to complete the construct.
The skin is attached to the face of the robot using what Michio Kawai from Harvard University calls a “perforation-type anchor” that pierces the base of the New Science rubber and creates a small hole for tissue to fill.
Tekechi is basically the same as the flexible, strong ligaments under the skin of humans and animals, Takeuchi told the London Times.
“It creates a comfortable, tight bond between the skin and the robot … the natural flexibility of our skin and strong adhesion means that the skin can move without tearing or detaching from the mechanical parts of our robot,” he said.
Although lab-grown skin still does not resemble real human skin, Takeuchi said the latest work is still important.
“We identified new challenges, such as the need for surface wrinkles and a thicker epidermis to achieve a more uniform appearance,” he said.
“We believe that thicker, more realistic skin can be achieved by adding sweat glands, sebaceous glands, pores, blood vessels, fat and nerves.”
Kawai told New Scientist that skin’s potential has surprising implications for the cosmetics industry.
The scientists found that when the robot smiled for a month, the network produced the appearance of expression lines on the skin.
