Japanese scientists have created a creepy robot with a face made of living skin (6 photos + 1 video)
Category: Interesting photo stories, PEGI 0+
26 June 2024
Japanese researchers from the University of Tokyo have created a robotic face from lab-grown human skin, a major breakthrough in the field of robotics. 
In science fiction films like Alien, humanoid robots are so realistic that they are almost indistinguishable from a real person. Roboticists in Japan are on their way to creating working versions of such machines.
Experts from the University of Tokyo have created a robotic face from laboratory-grown human skin. In the video (below), the whimsical pink creature tries to smile.
This eerie creature has life-like skin that can regenerate when damaged. According to scientists, robots with real skin are not only more realistic, but also have increased durability.
“We were able to reproduce human appearance to some extent by creating a face with the same surface material and structure as humans,” said University of Tokyo professor Shoji Takeuchi.
On the left is a 3D cast of a face covered with living skin. Right: A 2D robotic face covered in living skin smiles when actuated by perforation anchors.
The skin tissue used in the robot is created by taking a sample of human skin cells and growing them in a laboratory, similar to the method used to produce cultured meat. The skin is then attached to the acrylic resin robot's face using a special collagen gel.
In science fiction films like Alien, humanoid robots are so realistic that they are almost impossible to distinguish from a real person - at least until you see their insides. Pictured: Ian Holm as Ash in Alien (1979)
Creating living skin from cell cultures is fraught with challenges, but the most difficult was attaching the skin to a robot's face, made of acrylic resin. Previous methods involved the use of mini-anchors or hooks, but these limited the types of surfaces on which skin coatings could be applied and could result in damage during movement.
The designed skin tissue and the way it adheres to the robot's main complex structure were inspired by the skin ligaments in human tissue
Therefore, the scientists used a special collagen gel for adhesion and made a special perforation in the robot’s face (the so-called anchor), which helped the layer of laboratory-grown skin to take hold. By carefully designing the perforation anchors, they say, skin can be applied to virtually any shaped surface.
In the video, the whimsical pink creature is trying to smile. The silicone layer is stretched in the corners of the mouth using external mechanical actuators
Although the advent of talking humanoids like us is still a long way off, Professor Takeuchi and his colleagues believe that living skin could bring a whole range of new capabilities to robots.
It is believed that humanoid robots with living skin will be more durable, sensitive and will be able to express complex emotions thanks to built-in actuators that imitate the work of muscles.
Lance Henriksen as Bishop in Aliens (1986)
“This study presents an approach to adhere and actuate skin equivalents using perforation-type anchors, which could be an important step in the development of biohybrid robotics,” says the paper, published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
Professor Takeuchi's lab has already created mini-robots that walk using biological muscle tissue, 3D-printed lab-grown meat, and engineered skin that can heal.
The researchers plan to continue improving the robot by adding actuators that mimic muscle action to create more complex human-like facial expressions.
