Get innovative performance Researchers A team from the University of Tokyo has succeeded in attaching living skin tissue to a robot’s face and making it “smile.” The innovative achievement has important implications for many industries, including cosmetics and medicine.

To achieve this feat, the research team grew human skin cells in the shape of a face and treated them with lace-like threads. The result is an important step toward building more realistic robots that can mimic human expressions.

“By connecting these actuators and stabilizers, it is possible for the first time to manipulate living skin,” said lead researcher Shoji Takeuchi. “This breakthrough opens up new possibilities for combining biological and artificial machines.”

Benefits of living tissue

Takeuchi stressed the many advantages of using living tissue over metals and plastics. For example, living tissue is energy efficient, can repair itself, and has a circulatory system that can deliver essential nutrients.

In the future, the research team wants to add more elements to the lab-grown skin, including nerves and the circulatory system. This could lead to safer testing platforms for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals that are absorbed through the skin. In addition, it could produce more realistic and practical coverings for robots.

Suspicious

Still, it remains a challenge to free people from the strange or unnerving feelings that unconvincing machines evoke. “There’s still a bit of fear in it,” Takeuchi admits of the robot. “I think making robots out of the same materials as humans and having them display the same expressions could be the key to overcoming the uncanny valley.”

This groundbreaking research has far-reaching implications for industries ranging from cosmetics and pharmaceuticals to robotics and more. As scientists continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible, we can expect even more innovative applications of living tissue in the years to come.

most important points

• Japanese researchers have succeeded in attaching living skin tissue to a robotic face.
• This breakthrough has important implications for industries such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
• Living tissue offers advantages over metals and plastics, including energy efficiency and the ability to self-heal.