Scientists have successfully grown living human skin on a robotic finger, bringing robots one step closer to looking and behaving like humans.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo covered a working robotic finger with skin made from human cells.
The project was led by biohybrid engineer Shoji Takeuchi.
To create the skin, researchers placed the robotic finger in a mixture containing collagen and human dermal fibroblasts.
These cells formed a supportive inner layer called the dermis.
They then added human keratinocyte cells, which developed into the outer epidermis.
The result was a flexible layer of living skin that could move and bend with the robotic finger without easily tearing.
It also formed natural-looking wrinkles around the joints, making the robot’s finger look more like a real human finger.
The most impressive feature was its ability to heal itself. Researchers made a small cut in the artificial skin and covered it with a collagen bandage.
The skin cells gradually connected the bandage to the surrounding tissue and repaired the wound in about a week.
However, the technology still has limitations.
The living skin needs to remain moist to keep its cells alive.
Despite this challenge, the breakthrough could have important applications in medical research, prosthetics, and humanoid robots. In the future, living skin could help robots look more realistic and interact more naturally and safely with people.
Source: Kawai et al., “Living skin on a robot,” Matter, 5(7), 2190–2208.