Didn’t we see a movie like this? Pretty sure it didn’t end well.

Something called AiFoam, which is basically fake robot skin that is capable of both sensing the world through touch and has the ability to heal itself of injuries exists.

Vice reports that AiFoam or “e-skin,” created by researchers from the National University Of Singapore, is “a world-first smart foam technology that could function as the equivalent of human skin for robots.” The material uses “microscopic metal particles and tiny electrodes that are embedded into the foam” in order to feel what it touches, something that would just be straightforwardly cool if it wasn’t for the fact that the e-skin is also capable of healing itself when damaged.

After noting how “eerily dystopian” the idea of a real-life self-repairing fleshbot may seem, lead researcher Benjamin Tee told Vice that he was actually “inspired by Star Wars technology, where robots can perform surgery and prosthetic hands have skins.”

When even nerves can be replicated… 👀https://t.co/huNHSI7RXC via @vice

— Natashya Gutierrez (@natashya_g) July 7, 2021

Tee says that the goal is to “put [AiFoam] to practical use within five years” in fields like “smart prosthetic devices that will give users better control of their artificial limbs.” Let’s just try to concentrate on that optimistic possibility rather than the image of an unrelenting army of fleshy robots shrugging off machine gun blasts to their self-healing chests as they conquer our frail human cities and install themselves as the planet’s new rulers.

So, this could potentially be a good thing? Got it!

Photo| iStock