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Japanese scientists have found a way to attach living skin tissue to robotic faces and make them "smile."
日本科学家发现了一种可以将活的皮肤组织附着在机器人的脸上的方法，还可以让机器人“微笑”。
This breakthrough could be helpful not only in robotics, but also in cosmetics and medicine.
这一突破不仅在机器人领域有帮助，在化妆品和医药领域也是大有益处。
Researchers at the University of Tokyo started the process by growing human skin cells in the shape of a face.
东京大学的研究人员刚开始先将人类皮肤细胞培育成人脸形状。
Then, they used attachments that are similar to the ligaments in a human to pull the tissue into a wide smile.
然后，他们使用类似于人体韧带的附件，将组织拉成一个灿烂的微笑。
Lead researcher Shoji Takeuchi is a professor at the University of Tokyo.
首席研究员竹内昭二是东京大学的教授。
He said the result is an important step towards building more life-like robots.
他谈到，这一结果是朝着制造更多栩栩如生的机器人迈出的重要一步。
Using the attachments, he said, “it became possible to manipulate living skin for the first time.”
他表示，使用这些附着物，“让操纵活的皮肤第一次变得有可能。”
The study about the smiling robot appeared last month in Cell Reports Physical Science.
这项关于微笑机器人的研究发表在上个月的《细胞报告·物理科学》杂志上。
It represents 10 years of research by Takeuchi and his lab on how to best combine biological and artificial machines.
它是竹内和他的实验室10年来对如何最好地将生物机器和人造机器结合起来的研究的代表作。
Living tissue is better for this application than metals and plastics, Takeuchi said.
竹内谈到，活体组织比金属和塑料更适合这种应用。
He noted that brains and muscles are more efficient in use of energy and the skin can repair itself.
他指出，大脑和肌肉在利用能量方面效率更高，皮肤可以自我修复。
In the future, the researchers aim to add more elements to the lab-grown skin, including a circulatory system and nerves.
未来，研究人员的目标是在实验室培育的皮肤中添加更多元素，包括循环系统和神经。
That could lead to safer testing methods for cosmetics and drugs absorbed, or taken in, through the skin.
这将为通过皮肤吸收或摄入的化妆品和药物提供更安全的检测方法。
It could also produce more realistic and functional coverings for robots.
它还可以为机器人生产更逼真和更具功能性的覆盖物。
The remaining issue is how people react to machines that appear almost lifelike, but do not look exactly like humans.
接下来的问题是，人们对那些看起来几乎栩栩如生，但看起来并不完全像人类的机器有什么反应。
"There's still a bit of that creepiness to it," Takeuchi said about the robot.
竹内在谈到这个机器人时说：“它仍然有一点令人毛骨悚然。”
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."
他补充说："我认为，用与人类相同的皮肤制造机器人，并让机器人做出出相同的表情，可能是克服恐怖谷效应的关键之一。
The “uncanny valley” is an idea that relates to how humans react to robots or other machines that act like humans.
“诡异谷”指的是人类对机器人或其他类似人类的机器的反应。
“Uncanny” is an adjective that means “being beyond what is normal or expected.
“离奇的”是一个形容词，意思是“超出了正常或预期的范围”。
” Japanese robotics scientist Masahiro Mori published a work, Bukimi No Tani, or “Uncanny Valley” in 1970.
1970年，日本机器人科学家森正弘发表了一部名为《鬼斧谷》的著作。
It proposed how people would react to lifelike robots, or androids.
它提出了人们对栩栩如生的机器人或机器人的反应。
Mori thought that at first, people would have positive feelings about robots that look a little bit like humans.
森正弘认为，起初，人们会对看起来有点像人类的机器人产生积极的感觉。
But as robots got closer to being realistic human models, he believed those feelings would become more negative.
但随着机器人越来越接近现实中的人类模型，他认为这些感觉会变得更加负面。
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.
这些负面情绪就是图表中所谓的低点或 “谷底”，它代表了机器人类似人类的外观与人类对这种机器人的感受和接受程度之间的关系。
I’m Jill Robbins.
我是吉尔 · 罗宾斯。
