Robots of the future could be wrapped in lifelike skin that can repair itself, in a similar way to the way human skin heals, thanks to a novel approach involving cultured skin cells.
The skin will also appear more lifelike thanks to a new way of attaching it to the robot’s skeleton as well the fact that it can repair any cuts or scrapes by itself — researchers said. They published their findings June 25 in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.
Robotics researchers have previously tried to solve the problem of artificial skin sagging off the metallic frame by pinning it down with “anchors”, hooked or mushroom-shaped structures. This prevents the skin from shifting around atop the robot’s frame, but the adhesive structures can stick out as lumps under the skin — compromising its human-like appearance.
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One of the main benefits of this new skin is that it would allow robots to operate alongside humans without experiencing undue wear and tear. Small tears or similar defacements could be repaired without needing to manually repair the robots, the team said.
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[Shoji Takeuchi, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo] noted that to be truly functional, artificial skin will eventually have to convey sensory information such as temperature and touch to any robot wearing it, as well as be resistant to biological contamination.
