Toward more human-like robots (and MASA presence): Researchers attach living human skin to robot face

[Researchers have developed a way to attach living human skin to robots, with several potential benefits including making future robots appear and communicate more like humans (and thereby evoke more effective medium-as-social-actor presence). The key details are reported in the story below from New Scientist. More information is in the University of Tokyo press release, including this concluding paragraph:

“’In this study, we managed to replicate human appearance to some extent by creating a face with the same surface material and structure as humans,’ said [Professor Shoji] Takeuchi. ‘Additionally, through this research, we identified new challenges, such as the necessity for surface wrinkles and a thicker epidermis to achieve a more humanlike appearance. We believe that creating a thicker and more realistic skin can be achieved by incorporating sweat glands, sebaceous glands, pores, blood vessels, fat and nerves. Of course, movement is also a crucial factor, not just the material, so another important challenge is creating humanlike expressions by integrating sophisticated actuators, or muscles, inside the robot. Creating robots that can heal themselves, sense their environment more accurately and perform tasks with humanlike dexterity is incredibly motivating.’”

The work is clearly at the uncanny valley stage: In TechCrunch, the headline is “This smiling robot face made of living skin is absolute nightmare fuel,” but the story notes that “Of course it’s horrifying now, but it’s not intended to be realistic or beautiful — just to illustrate a potential method for attachment of living tissue to robotic undercarriage.” Similarly, in Futurism the headline says “it looks like it craves the sweet release of death. Please no.” and the story begins this way:

“Remember that one movie where a killer robot is disguised as a human using ‘living tissue’ over its ‘metal endoskeleton’? Lest you interpreted that as a cautionary tale, scientists at the University of Tokyo have gone full Torment Nexus by growing living skin in a lab and attaching it to a robotic face, so that it can create rudimentary facial expressions.”

But the author concludes, “It does sound like they’re working toward the goal of a more human-like appearance, though, which sounds like a provocative vision for actual cyborg robots that combine the strengths of both machine and biology.” –Matthew]

Smiling robot face is made from living human skin cells

A technique for attaching a skin made from living human cells to a robotic framework could give robots the ability to emote and communicate better

By James Woodford
June 25, 2024

A smiling face made from living human skin could one day be attached to a humanoid robot, allowing machines to emote and communicate in a more life-like way, say researchers. Its wrinkles could also prove useful for the cosmetics industry.

The living tissue is a cultured mix of human skin cells grown in a collagen scaffold and placed on top of a 3D-printed resin base. Unlike previous similar experiments, the skin also contains the equivalent of the ligaments that, in humans and other animals, are buried in the layer of tissue beneath the skin, holding it in place and giving it incredible strength and flexibility.

Michio Kawai at Harvard University and his colleagues call these ligament equivalents “perforation-type anchors” because they were created by perforating the robot’s resin base and allowing tiny v-shaped cavities to fill with living tissue. This, in turn, helps the robot skin stay in place.

The team put the skin on a smiling robotic face, a few centimetres wide, which is moved by rods connected to the base. It was also attached to a similarly sized 3D shape in the form of a human head (see [left image above]), but this couldn’t move.

“As the development of AI technology and other advancements expand the roles required of robots, the functions required of robot skin are also beginning to change,” says Kawai, adding that a human-like skin could help robots communicate with people better.

The work could also have surprising benefits for the cosmetics industry. In an experiment, the researchers made the small robot face smile for one month, finding they could replicate the formation of expression wrinkles in the skin, says Kawai.

“Being able to recreate wrinkle formation on a palm-sized laboratory chip can simultaneously be used to test new cosmetics and skincare products that aim to prevent, delay or improve wrinkle formation,” says Kawai, who performed the work while at the University of Tokyo.

Of course, the skin still lacks some of the functions and durability of real skin, says Kawai.

“The lack of sensing functions and the absence of blood vessels to supply nutrients and moisture means it cannot survive long in the air,” he says. “To address these issues, incorporating neural mechanisms and perfusion channels into the skin tissue is the current challenge.”


Journal reference: M. Kawai, M. Nie, H. Oda, S. Takeuchi, “Perforation-type anchors inspired by skin ligament for the robotic face covered with living skin,” Cell Reports Physical Science: June 25, 2024, DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2024.102066.


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