In recent days, a piece of news went around the world, yes, by promising something that seemed pure madness, a humanoid robot capable of getting pregnant and giving birth. The story supposedly linked to a company called Kaiwa Technology and an inventor identified as Zhang Qifeng, showed impressive images of a machine with an artificial uterus in the abdomen and assured that in a short time this “pregnant” robot would be available for less than 100,000 yuan.
But of course, there would be investigations into such a grandiose claim, independent verifications soon showed that the images released were generated by artificial intelligence. And how about Zhang Qifeng? It didn't even exist.
Nanyang Technological University, cited as the cradle of the project, denied any participation; in other words, it was a well-staged farce, supported by striking images and an irresistible argument.
The idea of a machine capable of carrying a human baby inside is impossible now, but behind this fake news an interesting question arises. To what extent has real science advanced in the direction of artificial wombs and so-called ectogenesis? The answer is that we are still a long way from something like the “pregnant” robot.
The most fundamental barrier is the placenta, it is not only an exchange channel, but an adaptive living organ that regulates oxygen, nutrients, waste and even the immune response between mother and fetus, replicating that with pumps and artificial microchannels for 9 months is a gigantic challenge.
Another obstacle is the amniotic environment, the fluid that surrounds the fetus fulfills functions that go far beyond protection, it shapes lung development, helps in muscle strengthening and maintains the ideal temperature. Reproducing those conditions for months without failure is still unfeasible.
Additionally, there is the problem of infection control, hormonal regulation, and even the final transition to birth, when the baby needs to completely change its physiology in a matter of seconds.
What exists today are much more modest experiments focused on saving extremely premature babies, systems such as biobags have already managed to keep lambs in a liquid environment for days, 10 days or weeks connected to external circuits that supply oxygen and nutrients.
These studies aim to improve neonatal survival, not replace a complete human pregnancy, even so, the advances draw attention, the possibility of creating systems that simulate part of the uterus already opens paths for medicine, but it is far from generating babies outside the human body, therefore, serious scientists are categorical, transforming this science into a gestational robot is pure fiction for now.
And that is perhaps the great lesson of this viral story, images can be deceiving, but science requires evidence and here I present it to you, bringing new technologies and showing their progress, whether real or not.
