- Robot face is covered with skin that’s grown from a cell sample in the lab
- READ MORE: Watch as a creepy humanoid robot mimics facial expressions
In sci-fi films like Alien, humanoid robots are so lifelike that it’s almost impossible to tell them from a real person.
Now, scientists in Japan are on their way to creating real-life versions of these realistic machines.
The experts from the University of Tokyo have created a robotic face out of lab-grown human skin.
Creepy video shows the bizarre pink creation attempting a cheesy smile.
According to the scientists, robots with real skin not only have an ‘increasingly lifelike appearance’ but could heal themselves if damaged.
Creepy: Experts made special perforations in a robot face, which helped a layer of skin take hold
In sci-fi films like Alien, humanoid robots are so realistic that it’s almost impossible to tell them from a real human – at least until you see their innards. Pictured, Ian Holm as Ash in ‘Alien’ (1979)
The research has been led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi of the University of Tokyo and detailed in a new study in 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.
‘We managed to replicate human appearance to some extent by creating a face with the same surface material and structure as humans,’ said Professor Takeuchi.
The ‘engineered skin tissue’ is made by taking a sample of human skin cells and growing them in the lab – similar to how cultured meat is developed.
Study co-author Michio Kawai at Harvard University told MailOnline: ‘These human skin cells are mainly harvested from excess skin obtained during surgeries.
‘Cultured skin has the same composition as human skin and is also used as a graft material for people with severe burns or injuries.’
The engineered skin tissue and the way it adheres to the underlying complex structure of the robot’s features were inspired by skin ligaments in human tissues
Creepy new video shows the bizarre pink creation attempting a cheesy smile. The silicone layer is pulled at the corners of the mouth by external mechanical actuators
While engineering living skin from cell cultures has its own challenges, the trickiest bit was getting the skin to attach to a robotic face, made of acrylic-based resin.
Previous methods involved mini anchors or hooks, but these limited the kinds of surfaces that could receive skin coatings and could cause damage during motion.
So instead, the team used a special collagen gel for adhesion and made special perforations in their robot face, helping the layer of lab-grown skin take hold.
By carefully engineering small perforations, essentially any shape of surface can have skin applied to it, they say.
Although there’s a long way to go until talking humanoids that look just like us, Professor Takeuchi and colleagues believe living skin can bring a range of new abilities to robots.
There’s still a long way to go before robots look like those in the Alien franchise, set mainly in the 21st and 24th centuries. Pictured, Lance Henriksen as Bishop in ‘Aliens’ (1986)
Robots with skin on their face boast self-healing abilities, embedded sensing capabilities and an ‘increasingly lifelike appearance’.
‘This research introduces an approach to adhere and actuate skin equivalents with perforation-type anchors, potentially contributing to advancements in biohybrid robotics,’ they say in their paper.
‘Unlike other self-healing materials, which require heat or pressure to trigger adhesion at cut surfaces, skin equivalent can regenerate defects through cellular proliferation without any triggers.’
The next challenge will be is creating a range of humanlike expressions by integrating sophisticated actuators, akin to muscles, inside the robot.
