Japanese Scientists Put Lab-Grown Human Skin On A Robot And It's Pure, Unleaded Nightmare Fuel

A bucket list item for me is to hop on a flight to Japan (a flight far too long for today's hottest air travel trend) to eat some incredible food in Tokyo and catch a bullet train to that place where you can sit in hot springs with monkeys.

I'm a simple man with simple desires.

However, one thing that has me a little concerned is the way they play it fast and loose with robots in the Land of the Rising Sun, and that trend has gone well beyond robot waiters and cyborg gal pals to now sticking lab-grown human skin on a robot.

A rudimentary robot, but that's how it all begins, and the simplicity doesn't make the finished product any less disturbing.

According to Daily Mail, researchers at the University of Tokyo (which doesn't even have a D-I football program) developed lab-grown skin and put it on top of a robot which then attempted to replicate human facial expressions.

"Attempted" is the keyword, but that doesn't make the finished result any less creepy.

I'm not sure what expression that was supposed to be, but if it was "gritting one's teeth in the throes of intense constipation," they nailed it.

I can't figure out what's creepier; the robot or the lab-grown skin.

Obviously, the latter is a huge step forward for medicine, but that "skin" looks a little too gelatinous to be human skin. Although, at first glance, it made me think of turkey bacon, which is impossible to eat without feeling like Hannibal Lecter. So, they're on the right track with that.

These are baby steps, but the goal is to make ultra-realistic humanoid robots. I don't know why anyone would want that. I like knowing that my robots are robots. I mean, just watch Blade Runner, and you'll understand what a pain in the ass it is if robots look a lot like people.

No thank you, I prefer my robots the old-fashioned way: either beeping and booping or flailing their limbs and shouting, "Danger! Danger, Will Robinson!"