Scientists from the University of Tokyo recently published in matte magaziner, who was the first to grow living skin on a robotic finger. This experiment is a big step towards a future where robots can look more human.

And although it is almost impossible to get rid of any references to movie androids, so far the study has been limited to one robotic finger with three jointswhich was covered with living cultured skin in vitro.

While the use of synthetic material could not bring the result that the researchers were looking for, mainly due to the knuckles, which, when simulating the movement of contraction and retraction, did not wrinkle at these points and did not even give a realistic look. Most often, silicone rubber is used to cover humanoids, but it cannot give the result expected by researchers.

Skin, on the other hand, could not only adjust and retract around the finger, but also provide the elasticity they were looking for by mimicking movements, in addition to being able to heal it if damaged.

healing factor

Since the intention is to create skin that can cover a humanoid robot to make it as realistic as possiblein vitro cultured skin proved to be functional in both texture and color, and even after repeated deliberate damage, it could be healed.

And this healing process created by the researchers was inspired directly by treatment of severe burn patientsin which a sheet of cultured skin is grafted onto the damaged area and coated with collagen gel to repair the cells damaged by the burn.

The regrown skin around the finger was also effective when tested with water:

“The results indicate that our 3D skin equivalents can serve as a permeability barrier to prevent water leakage.”

With such a positive response, Minghao Ne from the University of Tokyo, said the group’s next step would be to start working on a way to cover a humanoid face with skin, but the intention is to be able to cover the entire robotic body with skin in the future.

Curious as it is, a skin-covered robot will not cause oddities when touched or interacted with in medical settings or when caring for people in those settings, making this a major motivation in the quest to make the visual aspect of robots less intimidating.

The full survey can be read here.

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Source: Matter