Do you know the phrase: “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should?” Well, apparently scientists led by Michio Kawai of the University of Tokyo and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University are less aware of it.
The video of this creepy smiling face made from live human cells is more than slightly disturbing. Apparently it’s part of a study aiming to develop a “living skin” model of cells to cover humanoid robots. Why for? To allow for them reflect ‘true’ emotive reactions, give off clearer visual cues when communicating.
The description says: “A smiling face made from living human skin could one day be attached to a humanoid robot, allowing machines to emote and communicate in a more lifelike way, say researchers. Its wrinkles could also prove useful for the cosmetics industry.”
According to the scientists involved: “In this study, we develop and characterize perforation-type anchors inspired by the structure of skin ligaments as a technique to effectively adhere skin equivalents to robotic surfaces.”
Right. Bit of a warning here, as watching this might make your own skin crawl. Enjoy!
Well, that’s certainly a thing, and it’ll be interesting to see how this develops in a few years time. To me, it looks similar to a rubber human hand my dad got me when I was little, because I used to like playing with people’s hands to an annoying degree.
What do you think of this living nightmare? Start the conversation below.
