(Tokyo) Japanese scientists have succeeded in making a robot smile “naturally” from human cells, a technological revolution since androids are generally covered with silicone skin that cannot sweat or heal.
Posted at 7:33 a.m.
University of Tokyo researchers shared their findings Monday in a study published in the journal Cell Reports Physical Scienceand also released a video showing the robots displaying a realistic, but scary, smile.
To recreate a “natural smile,” they gelatinized human tissue and attached it inside the robot’s holes, a method inspired by real ligaments in human skin.
The specialists hope “that this technology will provide a better understanding of the formation of wrinkles and the physiology of facial expressions, and that it will contribute to the development of transplant materials and cosmetic products”, declared the team led by the professor of computer mechanics Shoji Takeuchi.
Their goal, even if they have not yet completely achieved it, will ultimately be to endow them with the “inherent self-healing capabilities” of human skin.
In previous studies, they grafted collagen onto laboratory-grown skin with a cut, affixed to a robotic finger. The goal was to demonstrate how it could heal itself.
