Yoky Matsuoka (松岡陽子 Matsuoka Yōko, born c. 1972 in Japan) is the CEO and Founder of Yohana (an independent subsidiary of

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

). She was the CTO of

Google Nest Google Nest is a line of smart home products including smart speakers, smart displays, streaming devices, thermostats, smoke detectors, routers and security systems including smart doorbells, cameras and smart locks. The Nest brand name was ...

, a co-founder of

Google X X Development LLC (formerly Google X) is an American semi-secret research and development facility and organization founded by Google in January 2010, which now operates as a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. X has its headquarters about a mile and a ...

and previously held roles as VP of Technology and Analytics at

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, technology executive at

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

, and as VP of Technology at Nest. Previously, she was an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and an associate professor of computer science at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, director of Washington's Neurobotics Laboratory, director of th
Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering
She is a 2007

MacArthur Fellow The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 indi ...

. At University of Washington, her research combined

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, developme ...

and

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrate ...

—sometimes referred to by Matsuoka by the

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsprosthetics In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

Early life and education

Matsuoka was born in Japan and moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

at the age of 16.Neil Degrasse Tyson
Profile: Yoky Matsuoka
''PBS'', July 16, 2008. Accessed online August 4, 2012. In her youth, she was a semi-professional tennis player, once ranking 21st in Japan,Sandi Doughton and Kyung M. Song
2 local researchers win $500,000 MacArthur "genius awards"
''Seattle Times'', September 24, 2007. Accessed online December 5, 2007. but was eventually sidelined by injuries (she broke her ankle for the third time); her interest in

began with the idea of a robotic tennis player, which she later decided was unrealistic.Eric Wagner
MacArthur Foundation gives local researcher a hand
, ''Northwest Asian Weekly'', November 3, 2007. Accessed online December 5, 2007. She received her

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in 1993 from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

and an

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

(1995) and PhD (1998) in electrical engineering and computer science from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

Career

Outside academia, she was chief engineer at

Barrett Technology Newton, Massachusetts, USA-based Barrett Technology was incorporated by William T. Townsend in 1990.microcode for the BarrettHand. From 2001 to 2006, Yoky was an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. During this time, she held the Anna Loomis McCandless Faculty Chair (from 2004),Yoky Matsuoka
, official page at the University of Washington. Accessed online December 5, 2007. received a

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White ...

(2004) and an

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operat ...

Early Career Award in Robotics and Automation (2005), and was nominated for the MacArthur Fellowship (2006), winning and joining the class of 2007. She continued her career at the

as an associate professor, and is currently working for Apple on wellness related products.

Research

Matthew O'Donnell, dean of the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

College of Engineering characterizes her as "a mechanical engineer, neuroscientist, bioengineer, robotics expert and computer scientist, all in one…

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

…the ability to see what is possible by combining all these disciplines." The MacArthur Foundation characterizes her work as "transforming our understanding of how the

central nervous system The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain and spinal cord. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity of all p ...

coordinates

musculoskeletal The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system prov ...

action and of how robotic technology can enhance the mobility of people with manipulation disabilities.Yoky Matsuoka
, MacArthur Foundation. Accessed online December 5, 2007.

Industry

In 2011, she joined

as one of its three founding members. There she helped on-boarding Babak Parviz (who led the

Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X (previously Google X), with the mission of producing an ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using ...

team) and developed Google X's portfolio in medical space. She then joined

Nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of organic materi ...

as VP of Technology, in charge of

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

and UX. There she led the development of the adaptive component of the Nest Thermostat, which is a key component of the product to date. Currently, she is an advisor t
Brain of Things
that provides a home that learns. In 2015 she left for Apple and worked there until Dec 2016 on Apple's HealthKit tracking software, the CareKit tool for managing patient medical care, and the ResearchKit framework. She was the Chief Technology Officer at Nest until they were acquired by Google. Currently, she is the founder and CEO of Yo Labs.

Personal life

She is married to a computer vision specialist and has four children.

Notes

External links

Official page
at the University of Washington * Microsoft Research
Understanding Human Movements to Enhance HCI Environments
Research Channel, September 29, 2005, 1:18:20 video about Matsuoka
Neurobotics Laboratory
archived site of her Neurobiotics Laboratory at CMU.
UW Neurobotics Laboratory
archived site for UW Neurobotics Laboratory
Neuralengineering Center
nascent Pacific Northwest research collaboration center
Yoky Matsuoka
on the site of the MacArthur Foundation. {{DEFAULTSORT:Matsuoka, Yoky 1970s births Living people American computer scientists American academics of Japanese descent American electrical engineers Apple Inc. employees MIT School of Engineering alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Washington faculty Japanese emigrants to the United States MacArthur Fellows American roboticists Carnegie Mellon University faculty