Robots Made With Human Tissue: Scientists Say It's Possible

The Terminator, Ava and bicentennial man Andrew Martin have one thing in common — all are robots with human tissue that makes them look like real humans. While they may pass for humans in their own cinematic universe, they are now viewed differently by real-life scientists. Apparently, scientists are now seeing the most practical use of humanoid robots in the field of medicine.

For two University of Oxford biomedical researchers Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy and Andrew Carr, building robots with human tissue is very possible and should be the next breakthrough in regenerative medicine. They say that robots are actually what the human race needs if people want tissue transplants that actually work and do not require human donors.

The scientists penned their thoughts about humanoid robots in Science Robotics this week. In their write-up, they acknowledged that humanoids have significant value in other fields like space exploration. However, they believe that there are other ways to make use of these robots, especially in the field of medicine. According to them, because humanoids can replicate the detailed musculoskeletal system of humans, they can provide assistance in tissue transplants.

By engineering tissue grafts using humanoid robots, Mouthuy and Carr said that this could provide a promising repair strategy to the aging populations who are very much prone to musculoskeletal tissue disorders and injuries. Growing tissues on robots is seen as a more beneficial setup than making them in laboratories. This is because mechanical stimulation is present in humanoids, and it prepares the human tissue to stresses and conditions that are present once they have been transplanted to a human body.

The idea of tissue engineering using robots isn’t something new. In fact, University of Tokyo already has this Kenshiro robot that is capable of realistic human movements. Mouthuy and Carr even pointed out Kenshiro as an example on how this new way of engineering human tissue should work in the future. A robot like Kenshiro is believed to facilitate the growth and development of tissues that would be helpful in tendon replacements and other surgeries.

With this approach in tissue engineering, it won’t be too far a stretch to say that the future could see humans becoming robots since they’ll be getting tissues from humanoids. As Ars Technica pointed out, this could be the realization of what MIT roboticist Rodney Brooks said years ago that “humans wouldn’t be replaced by robots — we would become them.”