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About

Haruka Oda is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of robotics and tissue engineering, whose work is bringing science fiction to life. Her primary research areas include biohybrid robotics, living skin equivalents, and biomimetic attachment systems. Oda’s major contribution is the development of living, self-repairable skin grown from human cells that can be used as a covering material for robots. Her landmark 2022 paper, “Living skin on a robot,” which has garnered 39 citations, demonstrated the feasibility of this concept. She further advanced the field with her 2024 study on “Perforation-type anchors inspired by skin ligament,” which solved the critical challenge of securely attaching living skin to robotic surfaces—a paper that has already earned 15 citations. Oda’s work on a skin-covered biohybrid robotic finger with a bilayered permeable subcutaneous support system (2025) addresses the vital issue of hydration, keeping the living tissue viable in open air. Her cumulative research, including foundational work on self-repairing dermal tissue for robotic fingers, has laid the groundwork for a new generation of more lifelike, durable, and interactive robots, with potential applications in medicine, prosthetics, and human-robot interaction.