Shoji Takeuchi, a Japanese professor at the University of Tokyo, has made headlines on social media with his “living skin” robot. This humanoid robot is an alien-like machine made up of engineered skin built on his previous work on mini-walking robots and 3D-printed lab-grown meat, engineered skins and biological muscle tissues.
Importance was placed by Takeuchi on creating tighter binding between the robotic structures and the subcutaneous structure of skin. Through mimicking human-skin ligament structures and making special V-shaped perforations into solid materials, these scientists were able to bond this skin onto intricate structures. The natural flexibility of this type of skin coupled with its strong adhesion to the robot ensures that it will move without peeling or tearing off.
Takeuchi said in a press statement: “During previous research on a finger-shaped robot covered in engineered skin tissue we grew in our lab, I felt the need for better adhesion between the robotic features and the subcutaneous structure of the skin.”
“By mimicking human skin-ligament structures and by using specially made V-shaped perforations in solid materials, we found a way to bind the skin to complex structures,” he added.
The journal Cell Reports Physical Science published details which showed that both a two-dimensional (2D) model (the pink blob) and three-dimensional (3D) model were created with a more human-like head shape.
According to Takeuchi, they are looking forward to make it thicker as well as introduce wrinkles so that it can be closer to humans. He believes that including important components like sweat glands, sebaceous glands, pores, blood vessels, fat cells and nerves would enhance thickness and realism.
“It’s not just about material but also motionality; therefore one other important issue is how best do we emulate humans’ faces using advanced actuators or muscles put inside our android,” he said.
These include medical research like drug development, skin ageing studies, cosmetics and plastic surgeon training.
Yifan Wang, an assistant professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said that he finds this research exciting as it provides a “hybrid solution” between soft and traditional robotics.
According to Wang, skin is the most important body organ for sensing purpose. However, he says that replacing biological skin with mechanical ones on traditional robots may make them have similar sensory capabilities. For example; Takeuchi and his team are planning to add more sensory functions in the next stage of their work so that such skins can be more responsive to environmental issues.
However, there is still a challenge of how to achieve living skin’s consistency as well as quality. Additionally, Takeuchi wants to implant a vascular system into his robotic skins so they will be supplied with necessary nutrients or maintained healthy over time. Though challenging in terms of engineering procedures involved, if successful according to Wang could make humanoids look and possess feelings just like other people do in future.
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