'Painted Skin' nightmare come true? This robot wearing 'human skin' appeared in the Cell sub-magazine

​Imagine a finger gently and slowly tracing across your back, traveling up your spine, and then slowly stopping...

You feel a little itchy , but at this time you have not fully woken up from your sleep.

You half-opened your eyes sleepily, feeling the slightest chill coming from your back.

Just when you turn around to see who is next to you early in the morning....

『***!』

You screamed and rolled out of bed, and you suddenly found that the person sleeping with you was a robot!

You were suspicious, wondering how this robot could touch you like a human.

You take a closer look and find that this robot is actually wrapped in a layer of human skin...

Wait a minute, what is this...

Speaking of human skin, how much? All have something to do with horror.

The only word that comes to my mind that starts with human skin is the story of "human skin" in the novel Ten Deadly Sins.

I remember that when I first watched it, I was in junior high school, so it was a shadow of my childhood.

So, when I heard about human skin fingers, I couldn't help but tremble in my heart. ​

# Recently, in Cell’s sub-magazine Matter, a group of Japanese scientists showed off a robot finger covered with “skin”. It is said that this "skin" feels very much like human skin.

Professor Takeuchi modestly said that the skin is not yet complete because it lacks features such as neurons, hair follicles, nails and sweat glands.

But in terms of texture, it is more than a star and a half better than silicone!

In addition, this "skin" has two very important features: it can heal itself and it can be waterproof.

This means that the "skin" attached to the robot can repair its own wounds and abrasions, just like normal human skin.

Paper link: https://www.cell.com/matter/pdfExtended/S2590-2385(22)00239-9

Now, it’s time to satisfy your curiosity.

What was your first reaction when you saw the picture below?

Now, imagine that this finger is your own, and the scientist is carefully using tweezers to lift the surface of the skin a little...

If you find it scary, it means that this thing really reminds you of human fingers.

Look carefully, the part picked up by the tweezers looks very elastic and crystal clear, a bit like the skin of shrimp dumplings.

As for the practical part, first of all, it is definitely not possible to peel off human skin and tie it to metal. That would be a pure horror story.

Do you still remember what I just said, the texture is close to human skin?

Now let me reveal the reason:

Because it is made from real, living human skin cells.

Speaking of which, does the Japanese team really not consider using it in "pillar industries"?

Robots covered in "human skin"

In order to develop human-like skin, Professor Takeuchi and his team used two key elements that make up the human dermis. Section: Collagen and dermal fibroblasts.

Among them, collagen is a protein that gives the skin its structure and elasticity, while dermal fibroblasts play a role in wound repair.

When the team immersed the robotic finger in a solution containing these two ingredients, the mixture of collagen and fibroblasts shrank around the mechanical finger and wrapped it tightly, forming the first layer of skin.

#When making the second layer of skin, researchers replaced fibroblasts with keratinocytes, which are the main cellular components of the epidermis. , accounting for 90% of human epidermal cells. Later, keratinocytes gradually adhere to the underlying layer of fibroblasts.

At this point, the skin of the mechanical finger is ready.

In the next test, the researchers found that the artificial "skin" has very good elasticity and can follow the movement of the robot's fingers. Rather stretch and wrinkle.

Going a step further, the researchers tested the degree of water rejection of the "skin."

The method is also very simple, just put a polystyrene foam bead in front of your finger and see if it can bounce it away.

Although it is just an inconspicuous bead, it is a very difficult challenge for moist epidermis.

Because generally speaking, polystyrene beads will stick to the surface of the robot easily.

But in this case, fingers successfully flicked the bead away, confirming that its skin repels water just like our own.

In contrast, although the instrument finger covered with another kind of skin tried its best, the nasty bead finally got stuck on the finger tip after several attempts to flick it. .

The final test is to find out whether the skin can heal itself.

The researchers first used a scalpel to cut a small incision in the middle joint of the robot, and then bandaged it with a collagen dressing, which is a common method for treating real wounds.

After a week in a petri dish, the collagen bandage had transformed into skin and remained in place after several joint movements.

After a set of operations, even Professor Takeuchi praised: "We were shocked by the fit between the skin tissue and the surface of the robot."

Robot simulation? Very important

Having said that, why do these Japanese scientists wrap the fingers of the robot with human skin?

Is it really... idle?

In fact, it is very important for robotics experts to make robots more and more like humans. It can even be said to be one of their main goals.

Nicole Robinson, a human-computer interaction expert at Monash University, said that giving robots human characteristics not only makes them look more related to people in appearance, but also improves the safety factor of robots completing tasks. and efficiency.

"It is very important for robots to effectively interact with the human world."

For example, a robot with a human-like hand is performing grabbing Will do better when doing tasks.

The truth is actually very simple. Grasping itself is something that humans do, and of course the more it resembles a human hand, the better.

Another reason is that making robots more human-like will make the real people working with these robots safer.

Professor Robinson said, "In this way, the robot will not cause much harm if it accidentally touches a person."

In addition, the most exciting part of "human skin" is in fields other than robots. Potential applications include designing lifelike prosthetics or treating burn patients.

It is for all the above reasons that robotics experts have been working tirelessly towards humanoid robots.

Look at this robot, Ameca, developed by Engineered Arts last year.

In fact, whether it is expression, touch, or whatever, it is all the efforts of scientists.

But for roboticists, creating realistic "skin" for robots is a huge challenge.

While soft materials like silicone are strong and flexible enough to adapt to the robot's movements, there is no way for them to repair themselves if they are accidentally torn.

Also, getting a flat piece of silicone to fit like a glove onto the robot’s jagged body was a challenge.

Professor Takeuchi also added, "Silicone skin doesn't look that real either. The silicone covers we commonly use today may look real from a distance, or in photos or videos. But when you actually go So close, you can tell at a glance that it is artificial."

Takeuchi joked, "It would take a tailor with great skills to do this job to trim the silicone to look like that."

So, when can we buy it?

Juxi Leitner, a robotics expert at Monash University, said that the current artificial skin does not contain all the components of human skin, such as subcutaneous tissue and blood vessels.

Therefore, these skins will not live very long without continuous access to the nutrients they need.

However, Professor Takeuchi and his team have begun to think about how to establish a "circulatory system" in robot skin in order to create robot skin with sensory neurons, hair follicles, nails and sweat glands. .

Obviously, in the short term, we don’t have to worry about trying to distinguish which is a robot and which is a human when walking on the road.

Reference:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/ science/2022-06-10/robotic-finger-wrapped-with-living-human-skin-by-scientists/101129954#:~:text=A team of researchers in,help of a collagen bandage.

https://www.cnet.com/science/biology/scientists-craft-living-skin-for-robots-made-of-human-cells/

https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(22)00239-9?_returnURL=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com /retrieve/pii/S2590238522002399?showall=true

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