This Robotic Finger, Covered in "Living Skin Tissue," Represents a Step Towards Real Terminators

A team from the University of Tokyo has, perhaps ill-advisedly, brought us one step closer to the future prophesied by the Terminator franchise, by wrapping a robotic digit in "living skin tissue" capable of healing itself if damaged.

"We have created a working robotic finger that articulates just as ours does, and is covered by a kind of artificial skin that can heal itself," explains Shoji Takeuchi, professor and first author of the paper detailing the work. "Our skin model is a complex three-dimensional matrix that is grown in situ on the finger itself. It is not grown separately then cut to size and adhered to the device; our method provides a more complete covering and is more strongly anchored too."

The finger the team has created is a fairly traditional, if human-like, robotic limb — but it's the layer on top which marks the true breakthrough. Constructed of a hydrogel collagen matrix inside that fibroblasts and human skin-cell keratinocytes, genuinely living skin cells, are grown, the skin literally grows around the robot, anchoring itself to specially-designed structures. Better still, it's capable of healing itself if damaged — just like human skin.

"The finger looks slightly 'sweaty' straight out of the culture medium,” Takeuchi admits. "Since the finger is driven by an electric motor, it is also interesting to hear the clicking sounds of the motor in harmony with a finger that looks just like a real one.

"Our creation is not only soft like real skin but can repair itself if cut or damaged in some way. So we imagine it could be useful in industries where in situ repairability is important as are human-like qualities, such as dexterity and a light touch."

Science fiction enthusiasts may recognize some of the concepts as being telegraphed in James Cameron's The Terminator. Released in 1984, the film centers around the titular Terminator: A cyborg with a metal endoskeleton wrapped in living tissue and designed to be nigh-indistinguishable from a human — right up until it terminates you, of course.

"In the future, we will develop more advanced versions by reproducing some of the organs found in skin, such as sensory cells, hair follicles and sweat glands. Also, we would like to try to coat larger structures. This work is just the first step toward creating robots covered with living skin," Takeuchi warns.

The team's work has been published in the journal Matter under closed-access terms.