[00:00.00]Japanese scientists have found a way to attach living skin tissue to robotic faces and make them "smile."
[00:10.48]This breakthrough could be helpful not only in robotics, but also in cosmetics and medicine.
[00:17.60]Researchers at the University of Tokyo started the process by growing human skin cells in the shape of a face.
[00:27.17]Then, they used attachments that are similar to the ligaments in a human to pull the tissue into a wide smile.
[00:35.82]Lead researcher Shoji Takeuchi is a professor at the University of Tokyo.
[00:42.21]He said the result is an important step towards building more life-like robots.
[00:48.13]Using the attachments, he said, "it became possible to manipulate living skin for the first time."
[00:56.04]The study about the smiling robot appeared last month in Cell Reports Physical Science.
[01:02.66]It represents 10 years of research by Takeuchi and his lab on how to best combine biological and artificial machines.
[01:12.85]Living tissue is better for this application than metals and plastics, Takeuchi said.
[01:20.02]He noted that brains and muscles are more efficient in use of energy and the skin can repair itself.
[01:28.36]In the future, the researchers aim to add more elements to the lab-grown skin, including a circulatory system and nerves.
[01:38.44]That could lead to safer testing methods for cosmetics and drugs absorbed, or taken in, through the skin.
[01:46.93]It could also produce more realistic and functional coverings for robots.
[01:52.61]The remaining issue is how people react to machines that appear almost lifelike, but do not look exactly like humans.
[02:02.19]"There's still a bit of that creepiness to it," Takeuchi said about the robot.
[02:08.08]He added, "I think that making robots out of the same materials as humans and having them show the same expressions might be one key to overcoming the uncanny valley."
[02:21.36]The "uncanny valley" is an idea that relates to how humans react to robots or other machines that act like humans.
[02:29.58]"Uncanny" is an adjective that means "being beyond what is normal or expected."
[02:36.98]Japanese robotics scientist Masahiro Mori published a work, Bukimi No Tani, or "Uncanny Valley" in 1970.
[02:46.57]It proposed how people would react to lifelike robots, or androids.
[02:52.40]Mori thought that at first, people would have positive feelings about robots that look a little bit like humans.
[03:00.40]But as robots got closer to being realistic human models, he believed those feelings would become more negative.
[03:07.92]Those negative feelings are the so-called low point, or "valley," in a chart that represents the relationship between the human-like appearance of robots and humans' feelings toward and acceptance of such robots.
[03:26.16]I'm Jill Robbins.
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Words in This Story
cosmetic - n. a substance (such as a cream, lotion, or powder) that you put on your face or body to improve your appearance
ligament - n. a tough piece of tissue in your body that holds bones together or keeps an organ in place
eerie - adj. strange and mysterious
manipulate - v. to move or control (something) with your hands or by using a machine
circulatory - adj. of or relating to the circulation of blood through the body
creepy - adj. producing a nervous shivery apprehension; annoyingly unpleasant
affinity - n. an attraction to or liking for something
uncanny valley - n. the unsettling feeling that comes when robots start to resemble humans a little too closely.
positive - adj. thinking about the good qualities of someone or something
negative- adj. thinking about the bad qualities of someone or something
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