Fox News correspondent Grady Trimble has the latest on fears the technology will spiral out of control on'Special Report.' Robots could soon be cloaked in human-like synthetic skin, similar to the cyborg assassin of the "Terminator" movie franchise, after Stanford University researchers developed an ultra-realistic, self-healing material. Researchers have been studying and developing convincing skin materials for robots for years, with Stanford professor Zhenan Bao touting the first multi-layer self-healing synthetic electronic skin back in 2012. More than a decade later, Bao and fellow researchers have taken their studies even further into the future: layers of synthetic skin that can now self-recognize and align with each other when injured, simultaneously allowing the skin to continue functioning while healing. "We've achieved what we believe to be the first demonstration of a multi-layer, thin film sensor that automatically realigns during healing," Christopher B. Cooper, Stanford Ph.D. student and co-author of the study, told SWNS.

NASA has announced a new round of funding for 18 futuristic projects that could help propel humans further into our solar system and beyond. Many of the ideas'sound like the stuff of science fiction,' the agency acknowledged, but they're not too crazy to one day become a reality. Among those that received funding are micro-probes that take after spiders to safely fly through the air, as well as a futuristic'smart suit' with self-healing skin to protect astronauts. Among those that were funded are micro-probes that take after spiders to safely fly through the air, as well as a futuristic'smart suit' with self-healing skin to protect astronauts (pictured) The cutting edge technologies are part of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program, which awards applicants up to $500,000 to develop their ideas. There are 12 Phase I ideas, like the smart suit, which are awarded $125,000 over nine months.