Japanese Scientists Create Smiling Robot with ‘Living’ Skin Using Collagen [Video]

Robots with human-like skin may be closer to reality than one might think.

On Wednesday, June 26, a team of researchers at the University of Tokyo announced that they successfully bound engineered skin tissue onto the face of a humanoid robot.

Professor Shoji Takeuchi, who specializes in Biohybrid Systems and led the group of researchers, has also created small robots that use biological muscle tissue to move along with three-dimensionally printed lab-grown meat.

With this latest experiment, the research team created a flesh-like material that can adhere to a robotic finger and bend without breaking, similar to that of a human. They took the “living” skin and applied it to a robot with light glassy eyes. And yes, it can also smile.

“During previous research on a finger-shaped robot covered in engineered skin tissue we grew in our lab, I felt the need for better adhesion between the robotic features …