Highlights

•Perforation-type anchor is proposed to adhere living skin to robotic surfaces

•Proposed anchor mimics human skin ligaments by gelling skin tissue via perforations

•3D facial mold and 2D skin robot covered with living skin are created

This research explores the correlation between the size of perforation-type anchors and anchoring strength. As a demonstration of the tissue fixation, we applied perforation-type anchors to cover the 3D facial mold with a skin equivalent. Finally, a robotic face capable of generating smiling expressions via the perforation-type anchors was developed.

The primary advantage of using skin equivalent as a covering material for robots is its self-healing capability. Unlike other self-healing materials, which require heat or pressure to trigger adhesion at cut surfaces, skin equivalent can regenerate defects through cellular proliferation without any triggers.