Scientists Have Developed 'Living' Skin For Robots, And It's Quite Something

The idea of artificial humans has fascinated and freaked us out for hundreds of years.

The development of living robot skin is close to being able to make a robot look like a human.

Human skin cells are used to make it.

"I think living skin is the ultimate solution to give robots the look and touch of living creatures since it is exactly the same material that covers animal bodies," said Shoji Takeuchi, a tissue engineer.

The researchers have successfully coated a three-jointed, functioning robot finger with a prototype of this lab-grown skin.

Takeuchi said the finger looked "sweaty" from the culture medium. It is interesting to hear the clicking sounds of the motor in harmony with a finger that looks like a real one since the finger is driven by an electric motor.

The University of Tokyo tissue engineer and colleagues took an approach that allowed the skin to mold itself onto the device.

According to the paper, it is difficult to cut, glue, or suture the endpoints of skin equivalent without damaging the soft, fragile tissue.

Instead, they put the robotic structure into a solution of cells from the fibroblasts. These are the parts of the skin that are damaged or destroyed.

The main component of our skin layer was coated with the primer layer. Animals have the same kind of repellence as the material does.

The bead sticks to the finger with no skin, making it harder to manipulate.

The gooey material is not as strong as human skin. The team suggests that the initial solution has a higher concentration of collagen.

The artificial skin can be healed with aCollagen bandage, which the living cells take and integrate into their system to help fill in the damaged area.

The lab-grown tissue is very limited. Just like our skin, it needs a consistent supply of water to avoid drying out, but the artificial skin layers don't have the same systems to provide hydration.

The integration of sweating glands in the skin equivalent is an important direction for future research.

Adding 'nerves' and sensors would allow lab-made skin to be multi-talented just like ours.

Takeuchi says they are surprised by how well the robot's skin meshes with its surface. This work is the first step in the creation of living skin-covered robots.

The researchers hope that by making robots appear more human, they will be able to better communicate with us. If we can make artificial humanoids beyond the valley.

The researchers concluded that the findings show the potential of a paradigm shift from traditional robotics to the new scheme of bio hybrid robotics that leverage the advantages of both living materials and artificial materials.

The research was published in a journal.