Edit: Ears
The research team led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi of the University of Tokyo in Japan uses living human skin cells to make robotic faces, which can not only make smiling expressions but also heal themselves.
From righteous heroes to evil villains, biosynthetic robots have been the protagonists of many science fiction works.
The sci-fi miniseries "Real Humans" female robot Anita.
In the service industry, humanoid robots are often asked to interact with humans and look like humans, and "real" is one of their top priorities.
Because the appearance of being like a human can improve communication efficiency and make people feel good.
Although the current robot's silicone skin can mimic the appearance of a human, it does not do enough in delicate textures such as wrinkles, and it also lacks skin-specific features. Attempts to create living skin for robots have also had only limited success.
On the 25th, Japanese scientists found a way to attach living skin to the robot's face, making the robot's smile and other facial expressions more realistic.
According to the team at the University of Tokyo, the breakthrough came from replicating the structure of human tissue.
This paves the way for the creation of biosynthetic robots, and the skin of such robots is self-healing and does not tear or tear easily.
Artificial skin is made in a laboratory using living cells. Not only is it soft, just like real skin, but it also repairs itself once it's cut.
Artificial skin can make expressions, so I ask you if you are afraid
Smiley faces made from living human skin could one day be attached to humanoid robots, allowing machines to express emotions and communicate more realistically, researchers say.
Their wrinkles may also be helpful to the cosmetics industry, as they can be used to test and study the effects of skincare products.
This living tissue is a mixture of human skin cells cultured in a collagen scaffold and placed on a 3D-printed resin base.
Unlike previous similar experiments, this skin also contains ligaments similar to those found in the underlying tissues of human and other animal skin, giving it immobilization and giving it amazing strength and flexibility.
Harvard's Michio Kawai calls these ligament equivalents "perforation-type anchors" because they create them by punching holes in the robot's resin base to allow tiny V-shaped cavities to fill living tissue.
This design helps the robot's skin stay in place.
The research team placed the skin on a smiley robot several centimeters wide, which moved by means of a pole attached to a base.
They also attached the skin to a similarly sized 3D model of a human head (see image below), but this model could not be moved.
"As AI technology and other advancements make robots take on more roles, the functional needs of robot skins are changing," Kawai said.
This research may also bring unexpected benefits to the cosmetics industry. In one experiment, researchers made the little robot face smile for a month, and found that they were able to replicate the process by which expression wrinkles are generated.
"The ability to reproduce wrinkle formation on a hand-held experimental chip can be used to test new cosmetics and skincare products to help prevent, delay or improve the formation of wrinkles," Kawai said while working at the University of Tokyo.
Of course, Kawai also points out that this skin still lacks some of the functionality and durability of real skin.
Due to the lack of sensory function and the absence of blood vessels to provide nutrients and moisture, this skin does not survive in the air for a long time.
To address these issues, the current challenge is to integrate neural mechanisms and perfusion pathways into skin tissue.
Research team
该项新技术由日本东京大学Shoji Takeuchi教授领导的研究团队，在论文「Perforation-type anchors inspired by skin ligament for robotic face covered with living skin」中提出。
As early as June 9, 2022, Professor Shoji Takeuchi published his research results in the journal Matter, which provides mechanical fingers with the texture of real human skin, and even has waterproof and self-healing functions.
Through his research, Professor Shoji Takeuchi found that the skin tissue and the surface of the machine fit quite well.
"This work is just the first step in creating a robot that covers living skin."
Two years later, with the idea that living skin is the ultimate solution for giving robotic creatures a look and feel, the team led by Professor Shoji Takeuchi has made new progress.
To achieve the goal of connecting the skin to the machine, the skin tissue is usually attached to the surface of the machine using microscopic hooks that can effectively connect the machine and the skin tissue.
But this approach has two fatal drawbacks.
One is that a specific skin coating is compatible with micro hooks, and the range of use is quite limited;
Second, the mechanical structure and skin connections are often not strong and flexible enough, and these hooks can damage the skin when the robot moves.
In the human body, the skin is tethered to the underlying structure by ligaments – strings made up of flexible collagen and elastin.
Inspired by the ligaments of human skin, Professor Shoji Takeuchi made a special V-shaped perforation on the robot's face to fix the skin layers.
To reproduce the situation, the researchers drilled a number of small holes in the robot, then applied a gel containing collagen and covered it with a layer of artificial skin.
This method makes the skin appear more realistic on the one hand, and repairs any cuts or scrapes on its own.
Professor Shoji Takeuchi said, "By mimicking the ligament structure of human skin and using a special V-shaped perforation in a solid material, we have discovered a way to combine artificial skin with mechanical structures."
"The skin's natural flexibility and strong bonding methods mean that the skin can move with the robot's mechanical parts without tearing or peeling"
The technology will take years of testing before it becomes a daily reality, researchers say.
"Another important challenge is to create human-like expressions by integrating complex actuators or muscles inside the robot," said Professor Shoji Takeuchi.
Realistic and cute or uncanny valley effect?
For the technical boss and "new work", netizens have expressed their opinions on the visually impactful demonstration pictures.
Some netizens are very interested in this new technology and express their willingness to make friends with it.
I'd love to be friends with it, it looks pretty attractive!
Most netizens expressed their skepticism, saying that if they don't look at the real thing, a few pictures are enough to make people go crazy.
God, it's beyond my comprehension that humans are throwing horrible things.
Some netizens also said that the robot's excessive pursuit of realism will cause people negative and disgusted emotions.
Just as roboticist Masahiro Mori's "Uncanny Valley Theory" hypothesizes, when robots reach a certain level of resemblance to humans, humans will react to them extremely negatively and resentfully.
Not only that, but there is also a lot of research on this topic. People like robots that are a bit humanoid or like pets, and they're cute. But the more realistic they are, the more scared people are. Replicants in Blade Runner or Ash in Alien are especially creepy.
Some netizens discussed the purpose of this realistic humanoid robot manufacturing.
They believe that the main direction of robotics research should be to assist humans in OEM or improve efficiency, and no one cares how it looks or whether it is realistic or not.
Hehe! Look. I really don't want to hear any nonsense about the advancement of robots, unless there's a robot that can help me sweep the toilet, vacuum my house, and be my dog's shoveler.
Why do you have to make robots look like humans? The whole purpose of robots is to increase productivity, without having to think about human rights.
If they are given consciousness and humanity, they will only become more people. We don't need more people.
Researchers, are you going to these robots in an authentic American cavity?
I think it's for nothing. If we really want humans to become emotionally dependent on robots (which is already a questionable goal), we don't need realistic faces. Since this is obviously only going to fall into the uncanny valley, why not make a cute pixel face? Truth be told, a completely faceless robot is much cuter than this one.
The penguin hot air balloon made by MC Minecraft does look much cuter than the skin-staring robot.
The penguin hot air balloon picture comes from Station B Suqing Story
Resources:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2436859-smiling-robot-face-is-made-from-living-human-skin-cells/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/1do8dhc/smiling_robot_face_is_made_from_living_human_skin/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cedd3208veyo
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-physical-science/fulltext/S2666-3864(24)00335-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2666386424003357%3Fshowall%3Dtrue