Artificial Skin: Whether Robots Should Be "humanized"

A Japanese laboratory has grown skin containing living cells capable of self-healing. This skin is planned to cover the faces of robots so that they have a more "human" appearance. But cultured skin can serve for more than that.

A living epidermis with self-healing cells will allow robots to frown and smile. Similar experiments have already been conducted, but now the cultured skin has been supplemented with strong fibrous ligaments, which should serve as a kind of fasteners, giving the epidermis additional flexibility and strength.

To avoid delaminations and tears, V-shaped perforations were made on the robot, mimicking the structures of skin ligaments to attach the epidermis. Using this method, according to the researchers, artificial skin can be easily applied to any surface, giving it elasticity and providing a certain "facial expression" for the robot.

One of the authors of the project, Shoji Takeuchi, considers the fact that skin can regenerate itself to be very important. To create a chemical-based material capable of self-regeneration, it is necessary to provide it with thermal energy, but even then it will not multiply like cells. And the skin invented by Japanese scientists is a biological substance, and it is able to repair small tears. They plan to add nerves to it to make it sensitive, as well as other elements of real living skin.

Lab-grown skin can also be useful for the cosmetics industry. During an experiment on a mini-robot, researchers managed to make it smile, resulting in the formation of expression lines on its skin. Thus, it may be possible to test skin care products and new cosmetics.

While artificial skin lacks sensitivity, this is an aspect that needs improvement, and Japanese scientists are actively working on it. It has no blood vessels and cannot supply itself with nutrients and moisturize. This is also very important, because without moisturizing, the skin cannot withstand prolonged contact with the air.

The thickness of the epidermis also requires improvement, as too thin skin is not able to take on a "human" appearance. At least a minimal set of wrinkles, according to scientists, their new development should acquire. For this purpose, they plan to include in its composition sebaceous and sweat glands, blood vessels and pores.

Is it alarming enough that humanity is just one step away from creating human-like robots? Scientists who aren't stopped by the fears of others have created a prosthetic finger covered in "living" human regenerating skin. They hope to achieve the point where robots can shake hands, caress a child or pet a cat. A team of Japanese scientists is working on the boundary between machine and human, experimenting with human skin cells and covering robot hands with them.

The result of their work was a cyborg that can sweat, and if its skin is scratched, it heals. This research was coordinated by University of Tokyo professor Shoji Takeuchi, giving the androids a more realistic look than the silicone or rubber that today's robots are covered in. To the touch, these materials are undoubtedly very different from human skin.

The finger was soaked in the solution for three days, after which the cells grew onto it to form a base coat. The cells were then grafted onto it with real human epidermal cells called keratinocytes. The result was a 1.5 millimeter thick skin that can stretch and contract like real skin when the finger is flexed or unbent.

In order for a wound to heal on the artificial skin, a collagen "patch" must be applied to the scratch. It can be made in various shades by adding special cells responsible for skin color - melanocytes. Since the skin lacks blood circulation, it is very fragile, so it should always be slightly moist to prevent drying out.

That's what's so sinister about it. The toe is lubricated with slime, and because it's powered by an electric motor, you can hear the slight click of the motor. But Takeuchi believes that these robots are the future, when they will be used as teachers, secretaries, caregivers and nurses.

Since all of these professions involve close proximity to people, it is essential that a person feels comfortable around them. A team of Japanese scientists has already successfully transplanted artificial muscle tissue onto a robotic skeleton and has set itself the goal of covering the entire robot with skin.

However, scientists also take into account the possibility that robots that are too realistic and human-like, but still different from humans, risk causing a negative reaction. This can be fear, a feeling of discomfort, although at the beginning of acquaintance with android human feelings and can be similar to interest or curiosity. But later on, won't they produce the opposite effect, even repulsion, associated with the unnatural and mechanical side of robots?