Living Skin on Robots Marks a New Frontier

[Social Media]

 

A soft, pink blob stares at the camera with glassy eyes before pulling its face into a dimpled smile. While it might look like the stuff of nightmares, this tiny robot covered in living skin represents a significant step forward in making robots more human-like. This innovative creation comes from researchers in Japan, who have discovered a new method to bind living skin tissue to mechanical robotic surfaces.

 

The team behind this breakthrough is led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi of the Institute of Industrial Science at the University of Tokyo. Previously, Takeuchi developed a "living" robot skin using collagen—a fibrous protein in human skin—and human dermal fibroblasts, the main cell type in connective tissue. This skin could be applied to a robotic finger and bend without breaking. For their new technique, the team was inspired by the natural structure of human skin ligaments, creating "anchors" using a collagen gel applied to small, V-shaped holes on the robot's surface. This method provides "a more seamless and durable attachment," says Takeuchi.

 

Takeuchi’s work is part of a broader effort to make robots more human-like. Ameca, often called the world's "most advanced humanoid robot," employs artificial intelligence to interact with people and respond appropriately to their responses. One feature that makes Ameca appear more realistic than other robots is her eyes. Will Jackson, the founder and CEO of Engineered Arts Ltd (the company behind Ameca), highlights the importance of eyes in human interaction. "Eyes are the windows to the soul. We read each other's emotions by eye contact," Jackson told CNN earlier this year, adding that with a "finite amount of motion" available in the robot's head, eyes provide "the most expressive capability."

 

Unlike the 3.5 million industrial robots already working behind the scenes in sectors such as automotive manufacturing and electronics, humanoids like Ameca, or Hanson Robotics' Sophia and Grace, are destined for people-facing roles such as hospitality, healthcare, or education. Currently, their limited range of facial expressions creates an "uncanny valley" effect, a phenomenon that can make people uncomfortable with things that are trying to be human-like but miss the mark.

 

"Realistic facial expressions enhance the robot's ability to communicate and interact with humans more naturally and effectively," says Takeuchi. "This is particularly important in applications such as healthcare, where empathy and emotional connection can significantly impact patient care."

 

The research, detailed in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science this month, is an exciting development for the robotics field, says Yifan Wang, an assistant professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Wang’s work focuses on "soft robots" that mimic biological creatures. Skin, the largest organ of the human body, is vital for sensory perception, feeling temperature, humidity, and the textures of objects. "This kind of feature in biological systems is currently, with artificial robots, still very difficult to achieve," Wang notes.

 

The research at the University of Tokyo offers a "hybrid solution" between soft and traditional robotics fields that is "very interesting," says Wang. Robots are often covered in a material made to resemble flesh, such as silicone, which is attached via an adhesive or fastening—leading to the skin falling off or breaking. The new method, however, offers a way of "adhering the skin onto a rigid surface very nicely, so that it does not detach easily and forms a very good interface between the rigid and soft," he says. For Wang, the most exciting implications of this research are around developments in the "sensing capability of robots."

 

"Our human skin has these very delicate, high-density sensors on the surface, which currently you can still not quite achieve using some synthetic materials," says Wang. "But if we use biological skin on those traditional robots, we can achieve a similar type of sensing of different features." Takeuchi and his team hope to add more sensory functions in the next research phase, "to make the skin more responsive to environmental stimuli," he says. However, ensuring the consistency and quality of the living skin might not be so easy, Takeuchi admits.

 

That’s why another part of his research is exploring how to create a vascular system for the robotic skin—a network of vessels and veins that carry blood and lymphatic fluids throughout the body—to provide the necessary nutrient supply to maintain the skin’s health over time. This would give the skin more moisture, "enhancing its durability and longevity," says Takeuchi.

 

Such advancements would require substantial engineering efforts, says Wang, but if successful, it would enable humanoids to look and feel like people in the future. This breakthrough in robotics marks a new frontier, where the line between human and machine becomes increasingly blurred. The potential applications for such human-like robots are vast, ranging from more effective caregiving robots in healthcare to more intuitive and relatable machines in service industries.

 

As researchers continue to push the boundaries of what robots can do, the integration of living skin tissue on robots not only represents a technological marvel but also poses profound questions about the future of human-robot interaction. The journey towards creating robots that can feel, empathize, and connect with humans on a deeper level is just beginning, and the implications for society are both exciting and challenging.

 

 

Credit: CNN 2024-06-29

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

[Purdey]

No oxygen through blood vessels to keep the skin fresh? 

Surely the skin will become dry and wrinkled?

[thaibeachlovers]

Those numpties should think again. Think Terminator or Blade Runner.

The only reason to make a robot look human is with sexbots.

[thaibeachlovers]

59 minutes ago, Purdey said:

No oxygen through blood vessels to keep the skin fresh? 

Surely the skin will become dry and wrinkled?

Minor problem. Invent some sort of fleshlike layer directly below the skin, oh that's how a live person keeps their skin cells fresh.

We don't have blood vessels in our skin either. They are under it.

[JonnyF]

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

The only reason to make a robot look human is with sexbots.

 

Pretty good reason though.